People being jerks on the internet, specifically Twitter, is nothing new. People being jerks on the internet to famous actors, politicians, journalists, athletes, etc. is also nothing new. People getting fired for being a jerk on the internet and leaving the trail in plain view for everyone to see is also nothing new, yet here we are again, writing about it.
Ian Poulter sometimes flaunts his wealth on Twitter for everyone to see, because if you own it, why not show it? There was a man heckling him at the Valspar Championship, and after Poulter had him kicked out, the man decided to double down on Twitter and go after him more. Poulter responded in the best way possible – by screencapping the tweets and including his employer in a tweet of the screencap.
I'm sure @FSC_Athletics & @FscSports are really proud of your professionalism. I wish you the very best Ian pic.twitter.com/jqFa3WVuDC
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 12, 2016
The man in question is former Florida Southern assistant athletic director for development J.J Downum, who had been in the job for about two years. Downum fired off those tweets to Poulter from his public account, laden with references to his employer, and Florida Southern dropped the hammer.
“He’s no longer employed at the institution,” said Pete Meyer, Florida Southern’s director of athletics and dean of wellness on Wednesday.
And Downum, as you would in a situation like this, deleted his account with all of the tweets contained therein. But Poulter immortalized the tête–à–tête as a lesson for the internet to learn from, though that probably isn’t going to happen.
Remember folks: don’t tweet nasty things at people from your public Twitter account with your name and job attached to it. That is, unless you don’t like your job and want to find a new one.
