A Florida district secretary who accused two survivors of the Parkland school shooting of being crisis actors has been fired.
GOP Rep. Shawn Harrison tweeted on Tuesday that his aide, Benjamin Kelly, had been let go following the disparaging comments about students who escaped last week’s massacre alive.
‘Tonight Mr Kelly was terminated from his position as my District Secretary. I am appalled at and strongly denounce his comments about the Parkland students,’ he wrote. ‘I am again sorry for any pain this has caused the grieving families of this tragedy.
Earlier Tuesday, Harrison said he did not share the same opinion as Kelly.
‘I was just made aware that my aide made an insensitive and inappropriate allegation about Parkland students today. … I do not share his opinion and he did so without my knowledge,’ the tweet read.
The 61-year-old Republican aide came under fire for telling a Tampa Bay Times reporter that two Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students – Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg – were ‘actors’ who ‘travel to various crisis when they happen’.
‘Both kids in the picture are not students,’ Kelly said in an email, referencing a screenshot of Gonzalez and Hogg doing an interview with CNN about stricter gun laws after former Marjory Stoneman student 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire killing 17 people.
To back his absurd claims, Kelly linked to a YouTube video of Hogg in a news clip from California over a dispute with a lifeguard about a boogie board. Many people commented on the video wondering why Hogg was in California labeling him as a ‘crisis actor’.
‘There is a clip on you tube that shows Mr Hogg out in California (I guess he transferred?), Kelly wrote in the email.
Following backlash from his comment, Kelly took to Twitter to say he ‘made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of information relating to his story regarding a school shooting. This was not my responsibility. I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5416035/Fla-reps-aide-fired-calling-shooting-survivors-actors.html#ixzz57kQxbUFO
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speaks the truth and is fired, lets hope not silenced too
not disparaging ,if its the truth
Stand Your Ground
History will not be kind to these blind fools
Was this guy going to retire anyway so this firing stunt was used to discredit crisis actors?
Looks like he drilled the right tooth.
🙂
“…Kelly took to Twitter to say he ‘made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of…..”
He only tried to inform a reporter of the truth of the matter. It’s a crime that he was fired for it, but it’s worse that he’s apologizing for it.
“Gimme my job back and I’ll be a lying sack of dung when I talk to reporters in the future”.
Speak the truth and stand behind it, you grovelling turd.
YES!!!