https://radioink.com/2024/07/22/meme-of-trump-in-a-coffin-gets-new-york-radio-host-fired/https://buffalonews.com/news/local/97-rock-slick-tom-tiberi-fired-facebook-meme-donald-trump/article_722e1716-4844-11ef-9a1e-9bd6d5c40542.htmlLongtime 97 Rock DJ “Slick Tom” Tiberi was fired after he reposted a meme on social media that showed former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin lying in side-by-side coffins with text that wished for their deaths.Tiberi said he shared the “edgy” and “dark-humored” image on his personal Facebook page before the attempt on Trump’s life earlier this month and took down the post soon afterward.But he said “far-right” users of Facebook and other sites successfully orchestrated a campaign to press Cumulus Media, the owner of the radio station, to fire Tiberi. He learned of the company’s decision on July 16 and shared the news with his Facebook followers last week.“I upset a small group of people and they blew it out of proportion and took it out of context – misrepresented me. And the company folded under the pressure,” Tiberi said in an interview Monday. “And that’s just the way it happens these days.”
Tiberi is the veteran nighttime DJ at 97 Rock WGRF-FM known for his gravelly voice.He started at the classic rock station in 1996 and worked there until 2008, when he was laid off in a cost-cutting move by former 97 Rock owner Citadel Communications. He got his job back in fall 2010 and has been with the station ever since.Listings on the 97 Rock website show Tiberi taking his program on the road to Bills road-game watch parties, a Fourth of July celebration at Woodlawn Beach and several area strip clubs.Tiberi described his political views as “center-left” and said he regularly posts about politics on his personal Facebook page. The page has no mention of his employer or its parent company and instead states that he works as “head chef at Greasy Ernie’s burrito emporium & taco haven.”“It’s just a release,” he said. “I don’t do it for any reason other than my own personal, to-get-things-off-my-chest kind of a deal. And I never talked politics on my show. I never do any of that stuff.”On July 11, Tiberi reposted a meme that showed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attempting to take a selfie photo as he stands over Putin and Trump in their coffins.The text on the image stated that it was an “Xmas sale” and a “2 for 1 special * for a limited time.”The person who posted the meme, identified as Wayne Garrett, stated “I wish this would happen.” Tiberi reposted it without additional comment.Tiberi said the meme was a reference to Trump’s lack of support for Ukraine and its president in their ongoing war with Russia.“It was just political satire. At least, that’s the way I looked at it, anyways,” Tiberi said. “I didn’t look at it as violence or wishing violence against anybody. It was just, for anybody that knows politics, Putin and Trump, you know, are not good friends to Zelenskyy and Ukraine, where people are getting slaughtered.”
He said the meme generated little reaction when he initially shared it online.Following the assassination attempt on the former president in Butler, Pa., on July 13, Tiberi said he took down the post.He told The Buffalo News he couldn’t remember how soon after the attack at the Trump rally he removed the image from his Facebook page. But it wasn’t quick enough to prevent some outraged Facebook users from taking screengrabs of the meme and sharing it widely.Tiberi said right-wing social-media users quickly figured out he worked for 97 Rock and targeted him and his employer in public posts and in private Facebook groups.Some of the posts accused Tiberi of sharing the meme after the assassination attempt on the former president, something he denied. One called him “Sick” Tom Tiberi.Tiberi said he received an email from the station on July 15 telling him the meme was becoming a problem.The next afternoon, Tiberi said, he got a phone call from Beth Coughlin, Cumulus Media’s regional vice president, telling him the company had terminated him.Tiberi said he asked about the possibility of a suspension but Coughlin said this wasn’t an option.He said the company could have used the meme as an excuse to get rid of him because, he said, few stations still employ live DJs in the evening. Most corporate-owned stations, Tiberi said, opt for the cheaper system of prerecorded “voice tracking” in between the songs.“I was a dying breed,” he said.He also said the station might have felt pressured to fire him because it had terminated morning show co-host Rob Lederman in 2021 for racist and sexist comments he made on air.
Tiberi said he didn’t think it was fair to lose his job over something he did on Facebook but the meme apparently violated a company social-media policy that’s spelled out in the employee handbook.“I didn’t know how serious it was, obviously, until I got fired,” he said.Coughlin and a public-relations representative for Cumulus did not respond to messages seeking comment.Tiberi wrote a post on Facebook letting his followers know that Cumulus had fired him.The message has received more than 300 comments. Most were supportive though a few said, in more colorful terms, good riddance.News of the firing prompted a backlash among many of Tiberi’s fans, with some deriding Cumulus for giving in to those on the right and others calling for a boycott of 97 Rock until Tiberi is rehired.“I’m blown away by the loyalty and support of my listeners with their posts on Facebook, on my personal page. I mean, people are writing the company and I really appreciate that,” Tiberi said.Tiberi’s Facebook message didn’t say he was sorry for sharing the meme.“I would apologize, yes, to anybody that was offended by it. Certainly,” he told The News. “It wasn’t my intent to offend anybody.”Tiberi, 63, said he doesn’t know what’s next for him. He said he had intended to continue working for at least a couple of more years before retiring.He said he hopes to get back into radio but realizes it won’t be in his old job at 97 Rock.In the meantime, Tiberi is left to wonder why he didn’t listen to his gut earlier this month when, just days before sharing the meme, he considered taking a break from Facebook for a couple of months.He said he didn’t because it was too hard to figure out how to temporarily deactivate his account.“I wish I had,” Tiberi said.
Good good.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences, chuds.
>>1320301>>1320375Exactly!
And just like that, leftists suddenly didn't like cancel culture
>>1320378Leftist here. Nah. Don't care. Just like I didn't care about Kathy Griffin. Cancel culture is generally a good thing and when it isn't, it's either businesses tailoring their public image, which I'm fine with, or a leopards eating faces situation.Only time cancelations are *actually* bad, there's some other reason to object to the situation beyond "muh cancel culture".Cry moar.
>>1320296>radio DJ>can't figure out how to deactivate Facebooktime for the nursing home, grandpa
>>1320378>so much for the party of free speech!
>>1320422>stand on your principles that I don't share for my sake, hypocritelol. fuck you. if you don't share them, you don't deserve the benefits of them.
>>1320442So you're saying you want the government to interfere with the free market?
>>1320451people that don't protect free speech values, and deliberately work to counter them, don't deserve free speech rights.>so you're sayingkys, retard.
>>1320456How did you get to be this indoctrinated?
>>1320463it's called the paradox of tolerance.
>>1320463We learned it from you.
>>1320490>WeI keep noticing chuds pretending to speak for multiple people.
>>1320491I have observed this as well!
>>1320296Republican cancel culture is running wild!
>>1320506Indeed!
>>1320411Good postYour wife’s boyfriend gave you a high five when you posted this
>>1320506democrats deserve it though
>>1320491I literally have a mouse in my pocket. What now, bitch?
>>1320506Accountability culture, sweetie ;)
>>1320456>people that don't protect free speech values, and deliberately work to counter them, don't deserve free speech rights.This is the only position that makes sense.
>>1320543Please don't project your life experiences onto others.
>>1320545for what reason?
>>1320838Bidenflation didn't convince you? You must not be American.
>>1320845TRUMPFLATION was directly the result of trumps CORRUPTION and the attempted coup by the BOOGALOO BOYS
>>1320853Dude crack rock is bad for you.
>>1320857>>>/pol/
>>1320845I am American but I know how inflation works unlike you.
>>1320881Exactly!
>>1320456>i have no principles when it's my side doing the oppression
>>1321007Thats not even close to what was said. If strawmanning is the best 'argument' your porn addicted brain can come up with, its no wonder your side resorts to terrorism so much. Sad!
>>1321015>>>/x/
