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Cybersecurity CEO Gets Fired After Threatening To Kill Trump On Facebook (mashable.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the words-have-consequences dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mashable: A San Diego CEO was fired after saying on Facebook that he would get a "sniper rifle" and "kill the president-elect." Matt Harrigan, CEO of the cybersecurity firm PacketSled, posted the comments on his personal Facebook page, but they ended up on Reddit where Trump supporters found the comments and mobilized to contact law enforcement. "I'm going to kill the president. Elect," Harrigan wrote. "Bring it Secret Service." PacketSled said in a statement that it had accepted Harrigan's resignation. "The PacketSled Board of Directors accepted the resignation of President and CEO Matthew Harrigan, effective immediately," the company said. "We want to be very clear, PacketSled does not condone the comments made by Mr. Harrigan, which do not reflect the views or opinions of the company, its employees, investors or partners." In a previous statement, the company said it reported the information to the Secret Service and placed Harrigan on administrative leave. According to The Next Web, Harrigan apologized for his remarks and said the threats were meant to be a joke: "My recent Facebook comment was intended to be a joke, in the context of a larger conversation, and only privately shared as such. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not engage in this form of rhetoric with any level of seriousness and the comment most certainly does not represent my real personal views in any regard. I apologize if anything that I said was either taken seriously, was offensive, or caused any legitimate concern."

4 of 497 comments (clear)

  1. Re:He should count his blessings by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    Now that he's unemployed, he'll be eligible for free Obamacare! .

    Free Obamacare? The unemployed get free health insurance? Since when?

    Only in America..

    Oh boy. You people really don't know much about the outside world, do you?

    --
    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  2. Re:Nobody expects the Email Inquisition by Nutria · · Score: 5, Informative

    The problem is that, "I'm gonna get a sniper rifle and shoot Donald Trump" is in no way shape or form even *related* to humor.

    At. All.

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  3. Re:B-b-b-ut it's the RIGHT WING that's violent! by cirby · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, the guy who worked on her campaign once.

    Not exactly a poster boy for right wing violence, what with him being a Democrat and all.

  4. Re:"If" I offended someone.... by Hulfs · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're either ignorant or lying about the joke involving gang rape.

    This is the joke..."One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

    The joke was meant to be about Palin's 18 year old daughter, a spokesperson of sorts for teen abstinence and ironically a teenage mother at 18. Palin's younger 14 year old daughter had attended a Yankees game earlier that day or week and the writers mixed up which daughter it was that was there. The joke was not particularly well written but the punchline is that A-rod is so virile that he can make women pregnant just by attending the game - since the abstinence preacher surely wouldn't be having more pre-marital sex.