Posted on 08/03/2012 9:22:00 PM PDT by StAnDeliver
Should someone be fired from their job and threatened with violence, torture, even death because they have an opinion different than yours? Of course not. And yet, that is what Adam M. Smith of Arizona says happened to him.Adam Smith’s life has been turned upside-down in the 36 hours that followed his posting the video of his protest at Chick-fil-A, which involved letting a young, female employee at the drive-thru know what he thinks about the company. (You can watch the video here.)
We had an exclusive conversation with Smith where he shared his side of the story. Here’s a taste of what he said:
•He has lost his job as Chief Financial Officer at Vante. (Smith claims that he was not given a chance to really explain himself before being terminated)
•His family has been threatened with violence and death. (At one point, his email account was getting 3 messages a minute, mostly vulgar and threatening)
•Because his home address was made public, he cannot live in his house. (And Mr. Smith is a married father of four – two of his children are adopted, special needs kids.)
•Smith said that his original intent was to follow guidelines laid out in an online video, which included quoting a scripture.
Before the original Blaze story ran and then again following the news of Adam’s termination, I reached out to him for further comment and clarification. I wanted to see if he wanted to apologize or possibly speak with Rachel, the girl he’s seen berating in the video. There was no comment or reply from Adam until early this morning.
Mr. Smith asked me to watch the video that he claims inspired him to act. It is a YouTube clip from a Christian writer named Jackson Pearce. In the video seen below, Ms. Pearce explains her thoughts on Chick-fil-A and suggests that people go to the restaurant on August 1st and ask for a large water and mention Proverbs 25:21, and if you video your protest, she will post it as a response.
Smith’s initial reasoning for his protest at Chick-fil-A springs from his belief that same-sex marriage is a Human Rights issue and that any laws denying it must be changed. And he chose to protest against the restaurant using the method suggested in the above video.
After he returned home from his now-infamous protest, Smith posted the video as a response to the YouTube video on Ms. Pearce’s page. He claimed that this was the first video he ever posted on YouTube. He later walked that statement back saying that he had only posted a few personal family videos, but nothing of a political or protest nature.
Shortly after his video reply hit YouTube, Smith claims that threats started hitting his email inbox. Threats to his family and to himself. So, he removed the video as quickly as he could, but it had already been saved and was in the process of being re-posted by others. One re-poster is tied to the group Stormfront.org. In fact, before he actually spoke with me on the telephone, at 9:34 this morning, Adam sent an email stating:
read this……"
The link he attached to that email took me to a blog site from someone who identifies themselves as “Florida Squeezed.” The headline of the post read:
Chick-Fil-A Becomes Iconic for Neo-NAZIS & Tea PartyYoung-Adult fiction writer’s idea accidentally leads to Arizona Chick-Fil-A protester being cyber-bullied by “White Power” website based in West Palm Beach, Florida
I was a bit confused by this. Was Smith now claiming that he was the victim of cyber-bullies that he claims are Neo-Nazis? No. He wanted me to see how Stormfront.org had re-posted his initial video and also added his contact information. As the video went viral, the threats and emails increased.
“My inbox was getting 2-3 emails per minute,” he explained via phone. He added later: “I’m not even at my house, you don’t know that. I can’t live in my house right now. I’m in an undisclosed location right now.”
I wondered about his terminations. Did both the biotech manufacturing company (Vante) and the college react without giving a “hearing?”
According to him, “The college has not fired me at this point.”
When asked if there is any chance to appeal his abrupt termination from Vante, Smith said he doesn’t not have legal counsel and thus has “no idea.”
So often in cases like this, a lawyer or law firm will step up and offer to assist, so I wondered if anyone had made such a proposal:
“I don’t think anyone can find me right now. I can’t find the emails through my ***** account because… it took me an hour to find your email, and I knew you did it, I knew you sent it, and it took me an hour.”
Smith started reading off some of the offensive emails he was receiving, telling me how people were referring to him and his family:
“I’m a fa**ot, I’m so glad you got fired, it’s so funny, I hope you’re slitting your wrists, your kids have a horrible example of a father, ya know, all kinds of real tolerant stuff…. Ya know, they have free speech so great… they can do whatever they want… they can do it.”
So given all the fallout, I wanted to know if he cared to see Rachel again. “If you encountered her again, what would you say to her?” I asked.
“I will say to her… what I will say to her… and I will figure out what the right words are,” he responded. And then he shed a little more light, saying that he had already gone back to Chick-fil-A the next morning to talk to Rachel.
She refused to talk to him.
“I wanted to see if she was OK, that’s all,” he explained. “She was actually working there, and her manager went to get her… and she wouldn’t come back.”
Considering the controversy that’s erupted, you can’t really blame her.
By the way, we have repeatedly reached out to his former employer Vante for comment and have not yet received a reply.
And just the idea that he went back to El Con CFA and asked to see Rachel! Ban that dude from the whole chain post-haste.
Now, down to the nitty-gritty, I posted yesterday that 'if you google his YT name Amsmith77Amsmith, the google cache 'ghost' picture will show you the 6 most recent YT titles he suscribed to, the most recent one (before he deleted as much as he could lol): It's Not About Chicken
Which interestingly is not the YT vid that Smith alleges made him do what he did, BUT is by the same YT user, this odd young woman JacksonPearce. So it's fair to say he watched the vid he refers to.
She's an simple-minded, cut-out macguffin in this, though. "Sad to see Adam Smith WAS filming a response to my video-- he was being a jerk and I admire Rachel for maintaining her cool." -- @ JacksonPearce yada yada yada.
Back to Smith. "He claimed that this was the first video he ever posted on YouTube. He later walked that statement back saying that he had only posted a few personal family videos, but nothing of a political or protest nature". You betcha he walked back that statement, because he wasn't fast enough deleting all his vids, one of which was titled:
Man Carries Cross Up Mountain on Good FridayDrove by this guy on Good Friday and had to stop to ask where this guy was coming from. My iPhone ran out of disk
You can watch it, because another YT user posted it.
BTW, Smith himself just posted an Apologies and Clarifications.
"I couldn't believe the number of people that came out to support the corporation..."
Believe it! Wow, he's attacking his own ex-employer Vante! You're not getting your job back, douchelord.
Gee, is the Blaze going to interview the parents of the six-year-old who has been threatened with death, wished on pederasts, etc. for posting 10 reasons he doesn’t like Obama?
This putz needs to suck up and put a sock in it.
He dug this hole all on his own.
Smith has posted an “apology” video on Youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmP9Shki6_I&feature=plcp
He still doesn’t get it, he thinks it’s all about him.
He’s as douchey as they come. Yuck.
Nobody gives a flying leap what his opinions are. But he unleashed a storm of verbal abuse against an innocent, minimum wage worker over something she didn't do. *That's* why he was fired, etc.
Amen.
Should someone be fired from their job and threatened with violence, torture, even death because they have an opinion different than yours? Of course not.
Well first lets get the facts straight.
He was not fired for his opinion. He was fired for verbally harrassing a young women, intimadation and being stupid enough to post it on youtube. Most companies have a clause for execs about bad public behavior that can cause trouble for the company. So YES he should have been fired. As to the rest. People must begin to understand that their actions can have consequences. If you act like an asshole you will be treated like one. If you are beligerent and threatening you will be threatened back and people will be beligerent towards you.
Nope. In fact, I would expect that if he shows up on or unreasonably near to Vante premises again without written permission, it becomes a police matter.
This moron is only trying to play the victim, so he can get
another job and won’t have to stand in a soup line.
I watched the video. What a moron.
It will be interesting to see where he ends up.
I am certain some gay based company will give him a job.
May he will learn a valuable lesson from this.
He does have a wife and kids. Maybe he will think about
the position he has put his family in, before he runs his
mouth again.
I’ll bet he’s a quick hire at Progressive Insurance, Ben and Jerry’s, or maybe HuffPo.
This response to his video has the most thumbs up votes currently:
You're a insignificant piece of sh(t. Your employer did the correct thing when they decided to let you go. You're a liability to your former employer's corporate core values, policies and their clients. You're not apologizing for your childish behavior during your rant, you are apologizing because you have NO other choice but to show some humility in order to gain acceptance. For your well being, I sincerely hope this teach you a lesson in how to be an adult and not let your emotions run amok.
Don’t forget Men’s Warehouse, that Obama supporting owner.
He’s entitled to his opinion. He just should have been fired for being a jerk.
I am kind of surprised he did not mention his family.
And apologize to them. He put his selfish desire to run his mouth over supporting the needs of his family.
He will find a job. But I want to know where he ends up, so
I can express my first admendment right to NOT buy that companies product.
OMG when is that crazy man going to stop harrassing that poor girl?
There’s been a lot of speculation about Rachel’s reaction and what was going on in her head when this D-Bag was ranting. I think the fact that she refused to meet the suddenly unemployed dickhead is an indication that she really internalized some of his anger. She’s not over it. He did some damage. What an ass of monumental proportions.
And his apology is just making things worse...he’s trying to justify his behaviour by blaming all the chikin’ eatin’ supporters of homo-hate for his butthurt.
I have little sympathy for a liberal thug bully who got it back in spades.
Human Rights Campaign - homosexual/homosexualist litigious group - future hire.
I don't understand that sentence either.
Yeah, it's definitely an audition tape. But no one is going to hire anyone who publicizes their anger management issues.
In the Cross Up Mountain video, he talks about having been an atheist for a year. So he's a typical newly-minted crackpot Dawkinist, but I think atheism has really done a number on this moron (as it has so many others). And now he has to double-down on being a puke, otherwise he'd have to acknowledge that separating himself from God's love has an internal price -- and his mouth just wrote a check for that price that his ass can't cash.
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