Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, speaks during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Monday, July 15, 2024. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images …
The State of Florida will have to pay a former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation employee nearly half a million dollars after she was fired for a social media post criticizing Charlie Kirk after his death.
Brittney Brown will receive $485,000 after she signed a settlement agreement with her former employer. The settlement will cover back pay, damages and attorney costs.
Brown worked for FWC for about seven years, studying shorebirds and seabirds on the panhandle, according to documents filed in court. She was fired in September after she reposted a meme on her personal Instagram account that claimed Kirk wouldn’t care about children being shot in their classrooms.
Habitat and Species Conservation Director Melissa Tucker, Brown’s supervisor at the time, claimed the agency received hundreds of complaints, causing significant disruption to the agency. However, discovery from the lawsuit only found they received about 50 complaints.
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Charlie Kirk aftermath
Political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a Utah college event on September 10 of last year. Shortly after his death, many of his supporters sought to ruin the careers of people who made light of the killing by combing social media for posts they viewed as celebrating his death.
Conservative social media account, Libs of Tiktok, would go on to share the identities and workplaces of many people who posted memes and commentary about the death of Charlie Kirk.
According to the lawsuit, she was fired one day after a conservative social media account shared Brown’s identity. Brown also detailed that someone leaked information about her termination to Libs of TikTok minutes after it happened, before it was made public.
The other side:
Brown filed her lawsuit, saying she was not able to gain employment elsewhere because the agency is the regulatory body for her research specialization in bird conservation.
As part of the agreement, she cannot seek future employment with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Source: This story was written with information provided by the Associated Press. This story was reported from Orlando.