Update 2:
TheBlaze has reached out to Adam Smith, who who terminated from his CFO job at Vante after the video above went viral. What did he have to say?
TheBlaze's Mike Opelka reports:
We had an exclusive conversation with Smith where he shared his side of the story. Here’s a taste of what he said (we’ll be releasing more later):
- He has lost his job as Chief Financial Officer at Vante. (Smith claims that he was not given a chance to really explain himself before being terminated)
- His family has been threatened with violence and death. (At one point, his email account was getting 3 messages a minute, mostly vulgar and threatening)
- Because his home address was made public, he cannot live in his house. (And Mr. Smith is a married father of four – two of his children are adopted, special needs kids.)
- Smith said that his original intent was to follow guidelines laid out in an online video, which included quoting a scripture.
Before the original Blaze story ran and then again following the news of Adam’s termination, I reached out to him for further comment and clarification. I was reaching out to him to see if he wanted to apologize or possibly speak with Rachel. There was no comment or reply from Adam until early this morning.
Update 1:
TUCSON, AZ--(Marketwire - Aug 2, 2012) - The following is a statement from Vante:Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company.
The actions of Mr. Smith do not reflect our corporate values in any manner. Vante is an equal opportunity company with a diverse workforce, which holds diverse opinions. We respect the right of our employees and all Americans to hold and express their personal opinions, however, we also expect our company officers to behave in a manner commensurate with their position and in a respectful fashion that conveys these values of civility with others.
We hope that the general population does not hold Mr. Smith's actions against Vante and its employees.
Original Story:
Some people went to Chick-Fil-A to support their freedom speech, but some decided to go and harass innocent employees who may or may not even share the same opinion as the head of the company. As Glenn said this morning, a successful company hires people of different backgrounds and philosophies. They don't work like a hive-mind, all marching to the same drum.
The Blaze reports:
Mr. Smith is an Adjunct Lecturer at Eller College in Arizona and he also is the CFO of Vante, a catheter manufacturing company.Apparently, Adam Smith is not a fan of the head of Chick-fil-A and he decided to let the company know how he felt. Smith sat in the drive through lane of a local franchise, intending to only order “free water” and give the company a piece of his mind.
In the video, initially titled ”Reduce $’s to Chick-Fil-A’s Hate Groups” – these points are worth noting:
- The college students that Smith sees off in the distance and speculates are getting ready to stage a sit-in, were most likely waiting to get into the movie theater they were standing in front of.
- He tells the young woman working the window, “This is a horrible corporation with horrible values.”
- He also goes out of his way to stress ,”I’m a nice guy, by the way… totally heterosexual. Not a gay in me, I just can’t stand the hate.”
Not long after Smith posted the video on YouTube, it was removed.
