Posted on 01/14/2007 1:29:42 AM PST by tlb
Video store clerk Charles Williamson, 28, posted a message on his blog, Freelance Genius, Dec. 23 that described how he set up a movie rental account for MSNBC host Tucker Carlson at the MacArthur Boulevard store the day before.
"I could tell you what he and his ridiculously wasped-out female companion (wife?) rented if you really want to know," he wrote. "I won't tell you where he lives, though. That would be wrong.
Carlson, 37, reappeared at the video store and, said Williamson, "got pretty aggressive." According to Williamson, Carlson confronted him about the blog and said he viewed the post as a threat to him and his wife. "He said, 'If you keep this [expletive] up, I will [expletive] destroy you,' " Williamson recalled.
In a phone interview Thursday, Carlson acknowledged that he approached Williamson in the store and said he was "very aggressive" because he wanted the post removed: "I don't like to call the police or call his boss. . . . I'm a libertarian. I'm not into that."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Williamson was a creep to post that and deserved to be fired.
I didn't know that - libertarians don't complain when you abuse them! This could be fun, LOL.
L
Nah... We don't complain... We get even... And we play dirty! Like voting dem! Bwahhhahahahaha!
Mark
My thought as well. *ucker Carlson is not libertarian.
There must be a million blogs on the internet. How did Tucker find his?
I wonder what type of movies he was renting....
Carlson does as much on-air slavering over the Tabloid-Celebrity-Gossip garbage as anyone else on MSNBC...
Pot-kettle-black
So Carlson sits around all night searching his own name on the internet? Funny!
Tucker needs some medicated pads tucked in a bunch somewhere.
Wood Allen
Debbie Does Good Morning America
The kid had no business doing this.
If he wants to attack carlson thats fine,but not with info he gets from a Video store he works at. I would have fired him too.
Elaine on a "Seinfeld" episode got into a similar situation. That was funny. This is not. Williamson needed to be fired.
And this Williamson twit is certainly no "Freelance Genius". More like a smarmy brat. Good for Carlson to go after him.
MSNBC host Tucker Carlson
It's amazing that he was recognized!
I still want to know...what does ol' Tucker rent? Want to bet there's some porno there?
"If he wants to attack carlson thats fine,but not with info he gets from a Video store he works at. I would have fired him too."
Yep, I don't think he did anything illegal but I would not have tolerated that at my store. There's the door.
Thanks for spicing up my sunday. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. Imagine little Lord Fauntleroy Tucker, the little prig, marching into that shop in his bow tie. LOL. Too much. And your commentary is hilarious.
From what's in the article, it sounds like Carlson overreacted (he's claiming the clerk made a "threat" against him, from what's quoted it looks like all the clerk did was smarmily insult his wife), but bottom line is an employee has no business posting that kind of stuff about customers, and the clerk is old enough to know that that sort of thing will get you fired just about anywhere.
If you want to find out how he found out, type your name in google and find out.
The clerk deserved to be fired.
Good for Carlson.
I don't know. The clerk seemed to do nothing more than to say that Tucker Carlson and a WASPy-looking woman came into the video store where he works.
He talked about revealing other information, or not, about Mr. Carlson, gave a petty insult or two, and that seems to be about it.
Mr. Carlson patronizes a video store. A public place of business. Wow. Call the National Enquirer. Inquiring minds want to know.
Then, when Mr. Carlson complained, the clerk took down the post to his blog. Nonetheless, Mr. Carlson proceeded to complain to the store's management sufficiently that the clerk was fired.
In that the clerk had already removed the post, a post, by the way, which broke no laws, as far as I can see, nor commit any particularly egregious action, why was it necessary to involve store management?
I think Mr. Carlson overreacted, and showed his true character.
Which is low.
"All I wanted to do was rent a Woody Allen movie," said Carlson.
There are too many psychological paths to pursue here, and too little time.
Leni
Carlson has enough money that he can hire some high school kid to monitor his name on the Net, and forward to him anything that Carlson might want/need to see
Just because it's a public place of business does not mean that it's proper for the clerk to invade a customer's privacy. I suppose you would be OK if a grocery store clerk told everyone you know which brand of condoms you buy. Or a taxi driver tell everybody that he dropped you off at a strip club.
Dear SauronOfMordor,
Mr. Tucker is a public figure. In fact, in that he takes money to appear on the television, I'd even say that he seeks out his status as a public figure.
Thus, reporting on a blog that used to get on an average of 6 or 7 hits per day that he was seen here or there in some public place doesn't seem to me to be an invasion of privacy. It just sort of goes with the territory of making oneself a public figure.
"I suppose you would be OK if a grocery store clerk told everyone you know which brand of condoms you buy. Or a taxi driver tell everybody that he dropped you off at a strip club."
I don't think your analogy fits the facts.
If the clerk had actually revealed what he was renting from the video store, then the clerk would have actually been in violation of Virginia law. The proper analogy that actually parallels the actual facts would be to say that one saw Mr. Tucker in a grocery store, or getting out of a taxi.
sitetest
"Carlson has enough money that he can hire some high school kid to monitor his name on the Net, and forward to him anything that Carlson might want/need to see"
google will do that for you, 24/7 and e-mail you the results at no cost, however, in the case of an on air "talent" there is probably an agency, or even MSNBC, doing it for their own protection and benefit.
I think Carlson has a low treshold for this type of thing owing to the fact that he was falsely accused of rape a while back.
He fights back.
Dear billhilly,
If the clerk had named even one video rented by Mr. Carlson, I'd agree with you.
But I went to the blog. He never mentioned what Mr. Carlson rented. He didn't mention anything specific about Mr. Carlson other than that he saw Mr. Carlson along with a "WASPy-looking woman."
So, a public figure was spotted in a public place of business, and a blogger thought that was interesting to note.
Mr. Carlson's overreaction was classless. It is what I've come to expect from the little girlie-man.
sitetest
He rented "Pelosi Does Frisco!"
He does fight back, and should I think. It gets to be annoying to see the double standards expressed here based on whether one is liked or not. There are probably not three people who are posting here who actually know Carlson or his family, but his bow tie offends, or his "girlie" behavior turns some of the perfect people here on FR off.
George Will wore a bow tie for decades, but it didn't affect his writing. I don't agree with everything Will has to say, but he can wear overalls with one strap if he wants too.
The clerk went beyond simply saying he saw Tucker. He also commented about the non-public-figure who was with Tucker. I could see how that would make Tucker upset (particularly if the female companion was somebody he didn't want public knowledge of)
Public figure or not, the clerk was out of line, and should have kept his mouth shut
Dear SauronOfMordor,
"The clerk went beyond simply saying he saw Tucker. He also commented about the non-public-figure who was with Tucker. I could see how that would make Tucker upset (particularly if the female companion was somebody he didn't want public knowledge of)"
Eh. You hang out with Brittney Spears, expect to get your picture in the paper.
If someone were to comment on his blog, "I saw sitetest in the video store," I just don't think I'd have much room for complaint, and I'm not even a public figure.
"Public figure or not, the clerk was out of line, and should have kept his mouth shut"
With this, I don't entirely disagree. If his blog had merely mentioned, "Hey, I saw Tucker Carlson where I worked, in the video store!" I'd disagree completely. But the tone of the blog was hostile, and treating one's clientele rudely isn't a good business practice.
However, Mr. Carlson entirely overreacted. This is especially true because the blogger willingly took down the mention of Mr. Carlson in his blog when confronted by Mr. Carlson. Mr. Carlson should have left it at that.
Rather, Mr. Carlson took some additional action (the blogger claims one thing, Mr. Carlson appears to deny at least part of it) that got the blogger fired. That was a weenie move.
Mr. Carlson deserves every bit of bad press he gets over this.
sitetest
"Want to bet there's some porno there?"
If he were really a libertarian, I should hope so. Alas, I doubt he is.
The clerk got off easy. Tucker may well be a weenie. I'm jealous of my privacy. Had the clerk done such a posting about someone of note with my attitude, the clerk would've been seeking much more than a mere job.
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