Damian Goddard

Damian Goddard, an anchor with Rogers Sportsnet in Toronto, decided to weigh into the gay marriage debate prompted by Sean Avery's support for same-sex couples and his tweet got him fired. The tweet:

“I completely and whole-heartedly support Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage,” Goddard wrote in a tweet on his personal Twitter account.

Damian Goddard

Damian Goddard, an anchor with Rogers Sportsnet in Toronto, decided to weigh into the gay marriage debate prompted by Sean Avery’s support for same-sex couples and his tweet got him fired. The tweet:

“I completely and whole-heartedly support Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage,” Goddard wrote in a tweet on his personal Twitter account.

Todd Reynolds, an agent with Uptown Sports, which represents several NHL players, tweeted criticism of Avery’s support, calling it “misguided.” This set off a storm of criticism, with several agents ripping Reynolds and supporting Avery. This became a big talk story in Canada and led me to do radio interviews with the CBC in Vancouver and the Yukon.

Goddard was sacked following his comments, with this statement issued by Rogers:

“Damian Goddard is no longer with Rogers Sportsnet. Mr. Goddard was a freelance contractor and in recent weeks it had become clear that he is not the right fit for our organization. As this is a confidential personnel matter, we will not be commenting further except to say that views expressed by Mr. Goddard on Twitter are his own and do not reflect the views of Rogers or Rogers Sportsnet.”

This shows to me again the idiocy of people for their need to tweet on any subject without thinking, and it has cost more than one person their job or endorsements or forced an apology. They seem to forget that any tweet can be ultimately seen by tons of people, and once out there can’t be reeled back. As Martin Patriquin of Macleans wrote:

Twitter has convinced many people (say, certain sportscasters) of the importance of their own brain farts on, say, same sex marriage. Baffling.

If you have the urge to tweet something controversial or edgy or what you think is funny about a serious subject, lie down until the urge goes away. You’ll thank me later.

Hat tip to Towleroad, where we first saw the item.

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