I am a Hard-Core Conservative, but I think Blue State Digital is stupid for firing the guy if he did the video on his own time. That is waaay too much control over a person's life outside of work.
I hope the Obama Campaign hires this guy, because he is obviously very creative, and who knows what he might come up with next? I remember when someone at Scrutiny Hooligans made a video of Congressman Charles Taylor to the tune of "Peanut Butter Jelly Time," I hated that they did it to my candidate, [I would link, but I can't find it] but I recognized the humor in the video. If you can't laugh, you might as well be dead. [Not meant to be taken as advice to the seriously depressed]
You lefties out there should complain vociferously to The Huffington Post about the situation. Sometimes, people go too far to cover a story.
I have posted on HP, and sent an email to the management of Blue State Digital, and I think you should as well, just on the principal of the matter.
Statement Below from the Blue Digital Website:
Our Statement On The 1984 Video
Statement from Thomas Gensemer, Managing Director, Blue State Digital
This afternoon, an employee at our firm, Phillip de Vellis, received a call from Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post" regarding the "1984" video currently circulating online. Initially, de Vellis refused to respond to her requests. He has since acknowledged to Blue State Digital that he was the creator of the video.
Pursuant to company policy regarding outside political work or commentary on behalf of our clients or otherwise, Mr. de Vellis has been terminated from Blue State Digital effective immediately.
Blue State Digital is under contract with the Obama Campaign for technology pursuits including software development and hosting. Additionally, one of our founding partners is on leave from the company to work directly for the campaign at headquarters.
However, Blue State Digital is not currently engaged in any relationship with the Obama Campaign for creative or non-technical services.
Mr. de Vellis created this video on his own time. It was done without the knowledge of management, and was in no way tied to his work at the firm or our formal engagement [on technology pursuits] with the Obama campaign.
I have spoken with David Plouffe, Sen. Obama's campaign manager, to inform him of this action and am appreciative of his understanding and ongoing support of our work.
We wish Mr. de Vellis well in his future endeavors.
For more information contact Thomas Gensemer at thomas [at] bluestatedigital.com
Huffington Post on their over zealous act
De Vellis explored his creativity and expressed his freedom of speech at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see anything wrong with the Hillary 1984 video. In fact, it was kind of clever!. For me he deserves more commendation than condemnation.