Boston.com Makes Insulting Joke About Death Threats to John Boehner

Boston.com thought it would be funny to make a joke about a bartender threatening to kill the Speaker of the House, but when enough people tweeted comments about how un-classy that was, they made a really funny correction.

The original article asked “Would Anyone Have Noticed if Bartender Succeeded in Poisoning John Boehner?” which is rude to begin with.

Then it said even if he tried, it wouldn’t work, because Boehner’s “pickled liver” would have stopped the poison. Which is pretty low.

It got plenty of negative responses, but instead of taking the article down or apologizing, the site edited out the “pickled liver” jab and added an editor’s note at the end:

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article made an unsubstantiated reference to health of Speaker Boehner.

When they finally made a statement, they claimed the article was “opinion.” Seriously? Do you think this fools anyone?

A top executive at the company that owns the website told the paper, “It’s very difficult to hit the epicenter of tasteless, mean-spirited, and humorless in one fell swoop.” Fox reports that the writer has finally been fired. This was his explanation on Twitter:

The story I wrote was awful. Tasteless. Mean. Bosses felt it was inexcusable. They fired me.

Notice that he doesn’t think it was inexcusable. I think this comment was exactly right:

Substitute “Obama” for “Boehner” and half the country would be calling for their head.

Read more on the Patheos Faith and Family Channel, fan me on Facebook and follow this blog on Twitter!

Photo Credit: Medill DC via Flickr, CC.