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Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him
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Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

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The past should be left in the past and shouldn’t be used to tar a charitable person’s reputation. At least that’s the signal some internet some users sent after learning that a reporter dug up dirt on a charitable person who raised a massive amount of money to charity.

Reporter Aaron Calvin found out that Carson King, who raised more than 2.2 million dollars for a children’s hospital, had made incredibly racist jokes from 8 years ago when he was a dumb teenager. Some internet users thought that this was unethical reporting and dug up unpleasant things from Calvin’s past in response. In an ironic twist, Calvin ended up getting fired at the Des Moines Register over the offensive social media posts he made himself.

Carson King received massive amounts of money after showing up with this sign

He decided to use this money for good

Image credits: CarsonKing2

King thought that donating his newly-acquired riches to a children’s hospital would be the best decision

King’s story went viral and everyone started writing about it, including Aaron Calvin from the Des Moines Register

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Image credits: CarsonKing2

Calvin found out King had made racist jokes when he was a teenager; the latter officially apologized for his past mistakes

Image credits: CarsonKing2

Image credits: CarsonKing2

King thanked everyone for their support

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Some internet users found the ‘attack’ on King’s character distasteful and started digging up dirt on the reporter

Image credits: Austin_712

The reporter had made plenty of offensive posts himself…

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…and got fired over them

Image credits: DMRegister

Image credits: Austin_712

Image credits: KimReynoldsIA

The entire situation is a bit complicated and full of rampant emotions, so it’s best to summarize what happened. King, who is 24, became flush with cash after bringing a funny sign about needing more beer (“Busch Light Supply Needs Replenished”) to College Gameday.

Out of the goodness of his heart, King decided to donate almost all of the money to a children’s hospital. That’s where the brewing company Anheuser-Busch comes in, stating that it’s going to donate as well.

The story then goes viral, and one of the people who wrote about it was Calvin from the Des Moines Register. While doing a background check on King, he finds that he had made racist jokes when he was 16. Calvin includes this info in the article about King, leading to Anheuser-Busch cutting off ties with the latter.

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Now, some people thought that bringing up dirt in an article meant to celebrate a person’s generosity was a low blow. So they started digging up dirt on Calvin, including all the offensive things he’s ever said about any group. The Des Moines Register ended up firing Calvin over his comments.

“We took appropriate action because there is nothing more important in journalism than having readers’ trust,” the Executive Editor of the Des Moines Register Carol Hunter wrote in an opinion piece when she responded to the outrage to the original story. “That reporter is no longer with the Register.”

The controversy didn’t stop people from supporting King and helping him raise money for charity. At the start of this week, donations soared through the roof, reaching more than 2.2 million dollars.

Dear Readers, what do you think about this entire situation? Do you think that Calvin publishing mistakes that King did 8 years ago was the right thing to do? What do you think about internet users then digging up dirt on Calvin? Do you think Calvin deserved to lose his job? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s how some internet users reacted to the entire story

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euniceprobert avatar
Eunice Probert
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh for goodness sake. What is this obsession with continuing to punish people for stupid things they did as children and teenagers? They're supposed to do stupid things at that age. A heck of a lot of people would not be able to stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Hopefully that is the lesson that the reporter will take away from this and not, ooooh, the nasty internet took away his job.

coreypichler avatar
CP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It all depends on if they learned from their mistakes and changed as a person. Clearly Carson King has. In this case everything worked out as it should.

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cassiers003 avatar
CR82
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I will be forever grateful that social media did not exist when I was a teenager!!!

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too! I consider myself liberal and not a hateful person. But I know I said some dumb a*s s**t that would probably sound racist. I actually have notes my best friend wrote in jr. high and some are hilarious but one has something that seems so horrible now but I know she never meant it that way. She would be devastated if I posted it online. I kind of wish she had kept mine but I guess it’s good she didn’t.

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young-and-depressed avatar
Arietis
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a chance the reporter works for a media outlet that encourages this kind of behavior. It was a s****y thing to do, but somehow I get there feeling there's some editor in chief there right now who thanks his lucky stars. Stories like these don't get published by lone wolf reporters, he probably ran the story by his editor and got the approval to publish it. Then the backlash happens and the reporter gets fired.

ariawhitaker avatar
Aria Whitaker
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are 100% correct: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/des-moines-register-iowa-reporter-fired-aaron-calvin-carson

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jeffrequier_1 avatar
Jeff Requier
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even if he was an adult when he made racist remarks, the FACT that he is doing good things now is all that matters. Aren't we Supposed to change racist peoples minds and show them the error of their thinking? Or are they just supposed to stay racist till they die?

i82much99 avatar
Laura Pantazis
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is what I don't understand! With politicians, I don't care what party they are with - if they did black face decades ago and have since recognized it is racist, insensitive, and strive towards promoting racial equality - then shouldn't we forgive and be glad that people are now starting to learn to treat others how they wish to be treated?

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jpwoodman1980 avatar
JP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anheuser-Busch distanced them selves from Carson after learning (from the reporter) about those past tweets. They withdrew their offer to supply Carson with a year's supply of Busch Lite. One city in Iowa (Waterloo) has a very large Oktoberfest celebration...they banned Anheuser-Busch products at the celebration. They cancelled their order. From the reports I've read, sales have drastically gone down in Iowa for Busch Lite. And as another BoredPanda commenter said, Busch Lite is kinda Iowa's state beer.

beejayw avatar
Ben Smith
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for Iowa! I’m glad they donated something, but they overreacted by distancing themselves from C.K. and now it’s biting them in the butt.

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tylerduffy avatar
coreypichler avatar
CP
Community Member
4 years ago

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This comment has been deleted.

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beejayw avatar
Ben Smith
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How ON EARTH did the reporter not delete those tweets?? Did he really think people wouldn’t go into his history as well? Lesson learned for both let’s hope. More importantly, a huge amount of money was raised for a truly wonderful children’s hospital (that happens to be in my home state :))

elizabethcwest avatar
Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's what shocked me too - the pendulum swings both ways. Did he really think no one would find/remember his own offenses? Dumbass.

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amcgregor7419 avatar
Al Jones
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What the reporter did was nasty, mean spirited and wrong. But I'm struggling to see how other people doing exactly the same thing to him is any better. Two wrongs don't make a right.

uwetheiss avatar
Uwe Theiss
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It would have been exactly the same thing if the reporter also was a teen when he posted something stupid. I think he doesn't had that kind of excuse. So he got punished for being an adult and still posting stupid things online.

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shireen_2 avatar
Shireen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

An eye for an eye and everyone goes blind. What about not going through people's social media history and acting like people can't change their opinions or how they act in society?

cassiers003 avatar
CR82
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't the purpose of life to learn as we go and grow as people? Soooo many mistakes have been made by my younger self. Lessons learned. Good for him to grow into a caring individual!!!

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess he never heard the term, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

sweetangelce04 avatar
Christina Sersif
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cancel culture needs to be canceled. We’ve all said stupid sh*t in our pasts. It’s not fair to judge you from your past, but from the person you are today. Anyone can change

ocdrobot avatar
OCDRobot
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The thought process of the reporter is just astounding. "This guy is doing a great thing! LET'S DESTROY HIM" I don't get it and I wish this sort of thing would stop.

kjorn avatar
Kjorn
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

that's like punishing your 35yo kid for Something he did when he was 15. what's the matter with that?

monkeyswrappedinbread avatar
Kiwi Canuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a 14 year old kid (female) trying to find my way in the world (in my VERY sheltered world, I might add), I wrote Eminem lyrics in the back of my English book as I was trying to learn the words. This was discovered by my English teacher, who had been sexually abused as a child - I did it innocently (I definitely didn't understand exactly what he was singing about), and definitely not in a malicious way. Kids/teenagers do silly things all the time, it's how we learn and grow. The fact that that reporter would go digging for something that happened a lifetime ago for this amazing young man is ridiculous.

gerberryful avatar
Geri Stevens
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for sharing what must have been a very humiliating and painful experience. I hope your English teacher forgave your innocent faux-pas and accepted your apology (if there was one).

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jmchoto avatar
Jo Choto
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a big difference between some adolescent making a stupid comment and, say, a public official making offensive comments as an adult. Social prejudice is never okay, but clearly this was a very long time ago in this young man's life, and to try and derail an incredible act of generosity and fundraising was petty and unnecessary by the reporter, who clearly was guilty of much worse things.

lynnnoyes avatar
elfin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think there are cases where an 8 year lapse doesn't excuse some behavior, but that's for much older people who are running for office. Stuff a 16 year old said is almost meaningless in terms of who they are when they grow up.

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The difference between 16 year old me and 21 year old me are almost 2 different people!

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kathinka avatar
Katinka Min
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm really not against looking at people's past to see if they screwed up badly. But there has to be some kind of scale. Sexually abusing underage people, - you won't shake that off for the rest of your life, and you shouldn't. Saying some stupid s**t on social media as a young person ... come on. Have some perspective! (And I will now go and light a candle in thanks for having been a teen when social media was not invented yet. Man, I was SUCH an a*****e at times. Fortunately, no record of the stupid s**t I did and said exists!)

elizabethcwest avatar
Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been thinking lately I owe my high school art teacher an apology. I was such a jerk!

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tacitus86 avatar
Tacitus86
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perfect societal witch hunt mechanism: Allow people the freedom to post whatever they want, 10 years later, make everything offensive.

montgal52 avatar
Carney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If we hold people responsible -- across their life span -- for the idiotic things we all do as teenagers...would any of us be above reproach?! Not me, at least. What adults do is very different from what teens do. For all the mistakes we make in life, we can learn, grow, change and go on to do wonderful things. Sadly, this doesn't hold true for everyone. Some people -- reporter in this case -- seem never to learn and hold others to far different standards than the ones they hold for themselves.

emory_ce avatar
Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't hold the things that people did in the past against them...unless they are continuing to do those stupid things. Part of growing up is making mistakes. Part of being an adult is learning from them so you don't continuously make the same stupid mistakes. But I also live by the saying "People that live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks." If you have something in your past that you don't want anyone to know, then think twice before trying to start a smear campaign against someone who's only trying to do the right thing.

deannawoods avatar
deanna woods
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This young man is doing a good thing and that reporter shouldn't have gone looking in his past to point out something negative about him. I am fairly certain that he is not the same person he was 8 years ago. No one is. People let's start trying to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.

elizabethcwest avatar
Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can't stand Daniel Tosh (the guy whom King quoted) - he acts like every offensive thing he says can be made OK by saying "Huh huh, that's racist." His worldview is really ugly and un-funny.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His legions of fans and millions of dollars disagree with you. I think he's hilarious. You can say you don't like him and find him unfunny, but to claim he's factually unfunny is one: just an opinion, and two: empirically wrong. He's very successful. I think lots of really successful comedians are dreadful. Sebastian Meniscalco is the least funny comedian ever but he plays stadiums so obviously he's "funny", just not to me.

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montgal52 avatar
Carney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If we demand that people who do stupid things as teenagers continue to suffer from their mistakes then where would any of us be? I'm not talking about killing someone, but saying terrible things via social media. Yes, the guy was offensive and wrong and a whole lot more. BUT he is no longer a child, he's an adult who seems to be doing good things. Let's judge -- if we must judge at all -- on the basis of what he thinks and does as an adult. A man who would use what started as a silly joke, to do this much good more than deserves respect and, again if necessary, forgiveness for a stupid thing done as a kid.

shewolfalia avatar
Alia G.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We should definitely be held accountable for our actions, we can't just say "whoop I was wrong nvm" and be immediately forgiven but people do change. We learn from our mistakes. Bringing them up again and again won't change anything.

rcourtney524 avatar
Richard Courtney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am curious about something... it says he donated “Almost all of it”. How much did he keep and why?

jlhall13 avatar
porcupine
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The reporter was doing his job. This is really shady to me... this guy gets all this money and donates it directly to a university hospital? Nobody is ever going to see that money again. And this happens right after these people completely blew their budget on making this hospital look cool mid-project? It’s too convenient. I’d be chasing down leads as well.

tep9966 avatar
Christina Palmer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was a teenager I said some racist things i picked up from my older brother and at the time it seemed ok to say; as an adult I would never say those things because I grew up and I know better.

donutlsf avatar
D r e a m l a n d s
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm so tired of the trend of judging people based on their past actions. PEOPLE. CAN. CHANGE. If anything be happy that they have moved away from childish hate and improved as a person.

lottoman1990 avatar
Daniel Crapanzano
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you live in a glass house, don't throw stones. I'm sure many of us have done or said stupid things in our youth, that we would never consider saying or doing now.

dunatyphon avatar
Duna Typhon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is stories like this one that make me wish that I had stayed in Kazakhstan. I never imagined when I was a child that Americans could be this cruel.

monicapatton avatar
Monica Patton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I understand your feelings, but humans can be cruel; it's doesn't matter that he's American. I know people that would give you the shirt off their back and I know people that would put a knife in yours, every individual makes their choice.

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taraliasemail avatar
Tara
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel terrible that he was trying to do something fabulous and it bit him in the a*s. I see both sides here, I really do. And I think there’s a lot more to the story. The important thing, in my opinion, is both men have admitted to their mistakes and have shown a lot of growth. I try to emphasize to my daughter constantly that what you post online will live on forever. This story drives that point home.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nowhere can I find word for word what those "racist" tweets are. People are outraged without even knowing exactly what is said. That said, the reporter looks like a weasel and the type who'd be hypocritically virtue signalling, then claiming victimhood, which he did. He even referenced coloured women in his victimhood statement. Pathetic. Just own up to the fact you're a hypocrite. F**k that guy.

christopheferreira avatar
kurisutofu
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What did the journalist say? What racist comment is he referring to? The story does not show everything.

awdudeno avatar
Jane Doe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought Aaron Calvin was the journalist and the posts under that name were his.

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coreypichler avatar
CP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The main point I got form this story is people can and do change. We shouldn't punish people for dumb things that were done in past (dumb does not mean rape attempts or things of that nature) especially when it is clear they have changed. The other side of this coin is that not everyone matures or changes their behavior. If a person is a s****y racist today and you dig up past quotes proving they were always that way then yeah you can use them. The point being your past bad behaviors matter if you haven't done anything to correct or learn from them.

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don’t know why you are getting down voted. I think you are right. I’m an atheist but what happened to Christians and forgiveness?

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kelgal avatar
Kel Gal
Community Member
4 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

cruzarts avatar
Steve Cruz
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Carson King exhibited immense grace and dignity in all of this. He didn't lash out at the reporter or shame him, he apologized. THE PRESIDENT could learn a lot from him.

wil_vanderheijden avatar
Wil Vanderheijden
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's the downside of social media and the internet. Everything you once posted will stay there. There's no "delete" button. When you post something offensive as a young kid, it can come up again 8, 10 or 15 years later. And that's something that a lot of young people do not know or don't realize. There's a simple rule: "If you don't want your parents to find it in the newspaper, don't put it on the internet."

euniceprobert avatar
Eunice Probert
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh for goodness sake. What is this obsession with continuing to punish people for stupid things they did as children and teenagers? They're supposed to do stupid things at that age. A heck of a lot of people would not be able to stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Hopefully that is the lesson that the reporter will take away from this and not, ooooh, the nasty internet took away his job.

coreypichler avatar
CP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It all depends on if they learned from their mistakes and changed as a person. Clearly Carson King has. In this case everything worked out as it should.

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cassiers003 avatar
CR82
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I will be forever grateful that social media did not exist when I was a teenager!!!

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too! I consider myself liberal and not a hateful person. But I know I said some dumb a*s s**t that would probably sound racist. I actually have notes my best friend wrote in jr. high and some are hilarious but one has something that seems so horrible now but I know she never meant it that way. She would be devastated if I posted it online. I kind of wish she had kept mine but I guess it’s good she didn’t.

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young-and-depressed avatar
Arietis
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a chance the reporter works for a media outlet that encourages this kind of behavior. It was a s****y thing to do, but somehow I get there feeling there's some editor in chief there right now who thanks his lucky stars. Stories like these don't get published by lone wolf reporters, he probably ran the story by his editor and got the approval to publish it. Then the backlash happens and the reporter gets fired.

ariawhitaker avatar
Aria Whitaker
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You are 100% correct: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/des-moines-register-iowa-reporter-fired-aaron-calvin-carson

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jeffrequier_1 avatar
Jeff Requier
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even if he was an adult when he made racist remarks, the FACT that he is doing good things now is all that matters. Aren't we Supposed to change racist peoples minds and show them the error of their thinking? Or are they just supposed to stay racist till they die?

i82much99 avatar
Laura Pantazis
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That is what I don't understand! With politicians, I don't care what party they are with - if they did black face decades ago and have since recognized it is racist, insensitive, and strive towards promoting racial equality - then shouldn't we forgive and be glad that people are now starting to learn to treat others how they wish to be treated?

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jpwoodman1980 avatar
JP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Anheuser-Busch distanced them selves from Carson after learning (from the reporter) about those past tweets. They withdrew their offer to supply Carson with a year's supply of Busch Lite. One city in Iowa (Waterloo) has a very large Oktoberfest celebration...they banned Anheuser-Busch products at the celebration. They cancelled their order. From the reports I've read, sales have drastically gone down in Iowa for Busch Lite. And as another BoredPanda commenter said, Busch Lite is kinda Iowa's state beer.

beejayw avatar
Ben Smith
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good for Iowa! I’m glad they donated something, but they overreacted by distancing themselves from C.K. and now it’s biting them in the butt.

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tylerduffy avatar
coreypichler avatar
CP
Community Member
4 years ago

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beejayw avatar
Ben Smith
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How ON EARTH did the reporter not delete those tweets?? Did he really think people wouldn’t go into his history as well? Lesson learned for both let’s hope. More importantly, a huge amount of money was raised for a truly wonderful children’s hospital (that happens to be in my home state :))

elizabethcwest avatar
Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's what shocked me too - the pendulum swings both ways. Did he really think no one would find/remember his own offenses? Dumbass.

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amcgregor7419 avatar
Al Jones
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What the reporter did was nasty, mean spirited and wrong. But I'm struggling to see how other people doing exactly the same thing to him is any better. Two wrongs don't make a right.

uwetheiss avatar
Uwe Theiss
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It would have been exactly the same thing if the reporter also was a teen when he posted something stupid. I think he doesn't had that kind of excuse. So he got punished for being an adult and still posting stupid things online.

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shireen_2 avatar
Shireen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

An eye for an eye and everyone goes blind. What about not going through people's social media history and acting like people can't change their opinions or how they act in society?

cassiers003 avatar
CR82
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Isn't the purpose of life to learn as we go and grow as people? Soooo many mistakes have been made by my younger self. Lessons learned. Good for him to grow into a caring individual!!!

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess he never heard the term, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

sweetangelce04 avatar
Christina Sersif
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cancel culture needs to be canceled. We’ve all said stupid sh*t in our pasts. It’s not fair to judge you from your past, but from the person you are today. Anyone can change

ocdrobot avatar
OCDRobot
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The thought process of the reporter is just astounding. "This guy is doing a great thing! LET'S DESTROY HIM" I don't get it and I wish this sort of thing would stop.

kjorn avatar
Kjorn
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

that's like punishing your 35yo kid for Something he did when he was 15. what's the matter with that?

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Kiwi Canuck
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a 14 year old kid (female) trying to find my way in the world (in my VERY sheltered world, I might add), I wrote Eminem lyrics in the back of my English book as I was trying to learn the words. This was discovered by my English teacher, who had been sexually abused as a child - I did it innocently (I definitely didn't understand exactly what he was singing about), and definitely not in a malicious way. Kids/teenagers do silly things all the time, it's how we learn and grow. The fact that that reporter would go digging for something that happened a lifetime ago for this amazing young man is ridiculous.

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Geri Stevens
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for sharing what must have been a very humiliating and painful experience. I hope your English teacher forgave your innocent faux-pas and accepted your apology (if there was one).

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Jo Choto
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a big difference between some adolescent making a stupid comment and, say, a public official making offensive comments as an adult. Social prejudice is never okay, but clearly this was a very long time ago in this young man's life, and to try and derail an incredible act of generosity and fundraising was petty and unnecessary by the reporter, who clearly was guilty of much worse things.

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elfin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think there are cases where an 8 year lapse doesn't excuse some behavior, but that's for much older people who are running for office. Stuff a 16 year old said is almost meaningless in terms of who they are when they grow up.

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The difference between 16 year old me and 21 year old me are almost 2 different people!

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Katinka Min
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm really not against looking at people's past to see if they screwed up badly. But there has to be some kind of scale. Sexually abusing underage people, - you won't shake that off for the rest of your life, and you shouldn't. Saying some stupid s**t on social media as a young person ... come on. Have some perspective! (And I will now go and light a candle in thanks for having been a teen when social media was not invented yet. Man, I was SUCH an a*****e at times. Fortunately, no record of the stupid s**t I did and said exists!)

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Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been thinking lately I owe my high school art teacher an apology. I was such a jerk!

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Tacitus86
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perfect societal witch hunt mechanism: Allow people the freedom to post whatever they want, 10 years later, make everything offensive.

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Carney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If we hold people responsible -- across their life span -- for the idiotic things we all do as teenagers...would any of us be above reproach?! Not me, at least. What adults do is very different from what teens do. For all the mistakes we make in life, we can learn, grow, change and go on to do wonderful things. Sadly, this doesn't hold true for everyone. Some people -- reporter in this case -- seem never to learn and hold others to far different standards than the ones they hold for themselves.

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Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't hold the things that people did in the past against them...unless they are continuing to do those stupid things. Part of growing up is making mistakes. Part of being an adult is learning from them so you don't continuously make the same stupid mistakes. But I also live by the saying "People that live in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks." If you have something in your past that you don't want anyone to know, then think twice before trying to start a smear campaign against someone who's only trying to do the right thing.

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deanna woods
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This young man is doing a good thing and that reporter shouldn't have gone looking in his past to point out something negative about him. I am fairly certain that he is not the same person he was 8 years ago. No one is. People let's start trying to lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.

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Pretty Pangolin
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can't stand Daniel Tosh (the guy whom King quoted) - he acts like every offensive thing he says can be made OK by saying "Huh huh, that's racist." His worldview is really ugly and un-funny.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His legions of fans and millions of dollars disagree with you. I think he's hilarious. You can say you don't like him and find him unfunny, but to claim he's factually unfunny is one: just an opinion, and two: empirically wrong. He's very successful. I think lots of really successful comedians are dreadful. Sebastian Meniscalco is the least funny comedian ever but he plays stadiums so obviously he's "funny", just not to me.

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Carney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If we demand that people who do stupid things as teenagers continue to suffer from their mistakes then where would any of us be? I'm not talking about killing someone, but saying terrible things via social media. Yes, the guy was offensive and wrong and a whole lot more. BUT he is no longer a child, he's an adult who seems to be doing good things. Let's judge -- if we must judge at all -- on the basis of what he thinks and does as an adult. A man who would use what started as a silly joke, to do this much good more than deserves respect and, again if necessary, forgiveness for a stupid thing done as a kid.

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Alia G.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We should definitely be held accountable for our actions, we can't just say "whoop I was wrong nvm" and be immediately forgiven but people do change. We learn from our mistakes. Bringing them up again and again won't change anything.

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Richard Courtney
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I am curious about something... it says he donated “Almost all of it”. How much did he keep and why?

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porcupine
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The reporter was doing his job. This is really shady to me... this guy gets all this money and donates it directly to a university hospital? Nobody is ever going to see that money again. And this happens right after these people completely blew their budget on making this hospital look cool mid-project? It’s too convenient. I’d be chasing down leads as well.

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Christina Palmer
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was a teenager I said some racist things i picked up from my older brother and at the time it seemed ok to say; as an adult I would never say those things because I grew up and I know better.

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D r e a m l a n d s
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm so tired of the trend of judging people based on their past actions. PEOPLE. CAN. CHANGE. If anything be happy that they have moved away from childish hate and improved as a person.

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Daniel Crapanzano
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you live in a glass house, don't throw stones. I'm sure many of us have done or said stupid things in our youth, that we would never consider saying or doing now.

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Duna Typhon
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is stories like this one that make me wish that I had stayed in Kazakhstan. I never imagined when I was a child that Americans could be this cruel.

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Monica Patton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I understand your feelings, but humans can be cruel; it's doesn't matter that he's American. I know people that would give you the shirt off their back and I know people that would put a knife in yours, every individual makes their choice.

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Tara
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I feel terrible that he was trying to do something fabulous and it bit him in the a*s. I see both sides here, I really do. And I think there’s a lot more to the story. The important thing, in my opinion, is both men have admitted to their mistakes and have shown a lot of growth. I try to emphasize to my daughter constantly that what you post online will live on forever. This story drives that point home.

captaindash avatar
Full Name
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nowhere can I find word for word what those "racist" tweets are. People are outraged without even knowing exactly what is said. That said, the reporter looks like a weasel and the type who'd be hypocritically virtue signalling, then claiming victimhood, which he did. He even referenced coloured women in his victimhood statement. Pathetic. Just own up to the fact you're a hypocrite. F**k that guy.

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kurisutofu
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What did the journalist say? What racist comment is he referring to? The story does not show everything.

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Jane Doe
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought Aaron Calvin was the journalist and the posts under that name were his.

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CP
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The main point I got form this story is people can and do change. We shouldn't punish people for dumb things that were done in past (dumb does not mean rape attempts or things of that nature) especially when it is clear they have changed. The other side of this coin is that not everyone matures or changes their behavior. If a person is a s****y racist today and you dig up past quotes proving they were always that way then yeah you can use them. The point being your past bad behaviors matter if you haven't done anything to correct or learn from them.

dons avatar
Calypso poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don’t know why you are getting down voted. I think you are right. I’m an atheist but what happened to Christians and forgiveness?

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Kel Gal
Community Member
4 years ago

This comment has been deleted.

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Steve Cruz
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Carson King exhibited immense grace and dignity in all of this. He didn't lash out at the reporter or shame him, he apologized. THE PRESIDENT could learn a lot from him.

wil_vanderheijden avatar
Wil Vanderheijden
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's the downside of social media and the internet. Everything you once posted will stay there. There's no "delete" button. When you post something offensive as a young kid, it can come up again 8, 10 or 15 years later. And that's something that a lot of young people do not know or don't realize. There's a simple rule: "If you don't want your parents to find it in the newspaper, don't put it on the internet."

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