Florida officials will pay nearly half a million dollars to a biologist who was fired by a state agency for criticizing conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media after his death.
The state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fired biologist Brittney Brown in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms. She filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, saying she struggled to find other work because the state agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.
Brown on Thursday signed a $485,000 settlement agreement with agency directors that covers backpay, damages and attorney costs. She agreed as part of the deal to not seek future employment at the agency.
Fish and Wildlife officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brown was among a wave of workers in both the public and private sector who lost their jobs over comments about Kirk’s assassination on a Utah university campus. Lawsuits are pending over many of those firings.
Before his death, Kirk and the organization he founded, Turning Point USA, galvanized the conservative youth vote to help President Donald Trump win a second term.
Kirk’s supporters combed social media after the Sept. 10 shooting for posts they viewed as celebrating his death. Influencers like Laura Loomer pledged to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing, and the conservative social media account Libs of TikTok shared the identities and workplaces of many who posted with its audience of millions.
I hope the little fucker is rotting in hell.
A person who doesn’t feel empathy is damaged goods. Either born wrong or raised wrong. If a Christian sort of god exists, then Charlie Kirk would be his mistake. So it’s for that reason that I don’t hope Kirk is burning in hell, because there’s just no way that a hell exists.
This is pretty much how it is reasoned in judaism. If youre an asshole, people will shun you. If youre not, youll be able to thrive with humanity. No threat of eternal damnation though
Wow, an intro philosophy course would have cleared that up for him, but he preferred loud ignorance and brought about his own demise.
He dropped out of college for a reason, and I’m guessing you’re right that he preferred his loud ignorance
He did lean to the left in the end. Also proved that contrary to anything said, he was a red blooded American.
In the end, his positions really deflated
Context tho! He was simply saying that people are using words as WEAPONS! /s
Bet he wishes they stuck with using words for weapons instead of using weapons for weapons.
I don’t think he can wish for shit anymore. That’ll happen when your life of hate leads to your death of hate.
That settlement isn’t big enough and the people responsible for the firing aren’t punished enough.
The people responsible for the firing weren’t punished at all. Florida tax payers were. In a functional democracy this would lead to the people responsible for the firing to be held accountable, but… well…
One of my friends was fired at work for similar. I was pissed when I found out why he had suddenly disappeared. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the management was happy to get rid of an openly gay man by way of saying he was associating the company with political comments.
