That’s the question raised by the disclosure that the Des Moines Register dredged up a couple of racist tweets by Carson King.
Why would Iowa’s largest newspaper care about King? He’s the guy whose sign seeking beer money so he could buy some Bud Light was displayed on ESPN’s “Game Day.” When contributions began pouring in, first totaling a bit over $5,000, now over $1 million, King decided to not buy the beer. Instead he donated the money to University of Iowa’s Stead Children’s Hospital
Anheuser-Busch and Venmo said they would match the donations. And that, apparently, was enough to trigger the Register to do a “routine background check” of King’s social media history.
The paper found a couple of tweets, “one comparing black mothers to gorillas and another making light of black people killed in the Holocaust,” according to the paper.
King apologized in a press conference to local TV stations on Tuesday, saying, “I am embarrassed and stunned to reflect on what I thought was funny when I was 16 years old.” He deleted the tweets (which I suspect he had forgotten about) and wrote a lengthy apology, which he posted online.
Teenage boys can be stupid. No question about that. But we’re not exactly sure that what a boy did when he was 16 is particularly relevant eight years later. Especially when the Register reporter who broke the story also has a history of racist and inappropriate tweets in his online history, including repeatedly using the N-word.
Meanwhile, A-B, seeking to be ever-so-politically-correct rushed out a statement saying it was cutting all ties to King. That means he won’t get the free Busch Beer A-B promised him. And any talk of putting his picture on a beer can is now history.
Maybe what bothered the Register was that the governor declared a Carson King Day. Or that despite its “expose” other businesses were supporting his campaign to raise funds for the hospital:
— Make-a-Wish Iowa thanked King for the donation to the hospital.
— Goldie’s Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City, cancelled plans to make a Busch Light-flavored ice cream. Instead, it’s producing a soft-serve using donated beer from Gezelig Brewing Co. in Newton. All proceeds will go to the fundraiser.
— Smokey Row Coffee Co. said it will donate half the price of each pumpkin spice latte sold until Monday (030).
— Geneseo Brewing Co., which is located in Illinois, across the river from Des Moines, said it would name a new Pilsner “Iowa Legend” to honor King. And it said it would donate $1 from every pint and 16-ounce can sold during King’s fundraiser. “We have witnessed your growth through your later social media content and accept your apology,” the brewery wrote on Facebook. “We believe that your selfless act to raise funds for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital is truly a noble act.” (Anheuser-Busch could have taken a similar position. But it didn’t.)
Some 432 tweets were linked to the story, and almost without exception they were supportive of King and critical of both the Register and A-B.
Tricia Hudson, whose Twitter picture shows a black woman, wrote: “There has to be room in society for people to make mistakes, learn from them, and become a better person. There is a reason minors are considered minor. Frontal lobe development is still ongoing.”
And BeerlessHeaven, who also appears to be black, wrote:
“*We’re all flawed. *We’ve all done and said regrettable things. *We’ve all matured since the age of 16. @CarsonKing2 did something universally good and selfless. We haven’t all done that. I’m 100% #standwithCarson Shame on @DMRegister and @BuschBeer.”
“Really disappointed that @AnheuserBusch lacks a spine,” said Jessica Fletcher, whose Twitter picture appears to be white. “This man raised a ton of money and decided to donate it to sick children, and you’re cooperating with a pathetic journalist to smear him over an 8 year-old tweet. I’d rather cancel Busch than Carson.”
And Jesse Kelly, whose Twitter picture also shows a black man, posted: “People are rightly crushing @DMRegister for yet another media hatchet job, but not nearly enough Americans are demanding a more courageous corporate culture. Companies like Anheuser-Busch just cut and run at the first sign of trouble in an age when “trouble” passes in a day.”
After the Register’s self-righteous reporting led to the storm of protest from common folk, the Register reporter removed his own racist tweets from Twitter, and the editor of the Register announced it was investigating the reporter’s racist tweets from years ago.
If the Twitter feed is to be believed, the only party who comes off looking good in this incident is Carson King. True, his comments eight years ago when he was 16 were stupid. But what he is doing now – raising more than $1 million to help kids, not himself — looks downright noble. Plus he apologized. As for the Register, it looks petty. As for the Register’s reporter, he looks hypocritical. As for Anheuser-Busch, it made a statement like Genesco Brewing. It didn’t, and it just looks petty.