Carlsbad City Councilman J.R. Doporto claims that a controversial Facebook post was just a joke and should be protected as free speech, but the post has cost him his private-sector job as a network engineer.
Doporto wrote Sunday on Facebook: “Just want to give a heads up to the women! You have rights! A right to cook and a right to clean. Today is Sunday and the NFL playoffs are on! I suggest you stop your [expletive] protesting during this time. Because you also have a right to get slapped!”
Doporto has since restricted access to his Facebook page, but not before the post went viral and outraged citizens brought the post to the attention of the Carlsbad City Council and his private employer, HollyFrontier Corp., according to KOB.
Doporto was fired Wednesday from HollyFrontier, according to the Current-Argus. The city council has not taken any action against Doporto for his comments, despite an online petition asking for Doporto to step down, which has garnered thousands of signatures.
Doporto told KOB that his comments were a joke and that he’d written similar things in the past without consequence. He told the Current-Argus that he is considering legal action against his former employer, because he believes that his First Amendment rights to free speech were violated.
According to Doporto’s wife, the family has received death threats. The Current-Argus reported that Doporto’s wife defended her husband in a Facebook post, writing: “As a father of our four beautiful children, he is now jobless because of one single post.”
About the Author
