Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

The past should be left in the past and shouldn’t be used to tar a charitable person’s reputation. At least that’s the signal some internet some users sent after learning that a reporter dug up dirt on a charitable person who raised a massive amount of money to charity.

Reporter Aaron Calvin found out that Carson King, who raised more than 2.2 million dollars for a children’s hospital, had made incredibly racist jokes from 8 years ago when he was a dumb teenager. Some internet users thought that this was unethical reporting and dug up unpleasant things from Calvin’s past in response. In an ironic twist, Calvin ended up getting fired at the Des Moines Register over the offensive social media posts he made himself.

Carson King received massive amounts of money after showing up with this sign

He decided to use this money for good

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: CarsonKing2

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

King thought that donating his newly-acquired riches to a children’s hospital would be the best decision

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

King’s story went viral and everyone started writing about it, including Aaron Calvin from the Des Moines Register

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: CarsonKing2

Calvin found out King had made racist jokes when he was a teenager; the latter officially apologized for his past mistakes

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: CarsonKing2

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: CarsonKing2

King thanked everyone for their support

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Some internet users found the ‘attack’ on King’s character distasteful and started digging up dirt on the reporter

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: Austin_712

The reporter had made plenty of offensive posts himself…

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

…and got fired over them

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: DMRegister

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: Austin_712

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Image credits: KimReynoldsIA

The entire situation is a bit complicated and full of rampant emotions, so it’s best to summarize what happened. King, who is 24, became flush with cash after bringing a funny sign about needing more beer (“Busch Light Supply Needs Replenished”) to College Gameday.

Out of the goodness of his heart, King decided to donate almost all of the money to a children’s hospital. That’s where the brewing company Anheuser-Busch comes in, stating that it’s going to donate as well.

The story then goes viral, and one of the people who wrote about it was Calvin from the Des Moines Register. While doing a background check on King, he finds that he had made racist jokes when he was 16. Calvin includes this info in the article about King, leading to Anheuser-Busch cutting off ties with the latter.

Now, some people thought that bringing up dirt in an article meant to celebrate a person’s generosity was a low blow. So they started digging up dirt on Calvin, including all the offensive things he’s ever said about any group. The Des Moines Register ended up firing Calvin over his comments.

“We took appropriate action because there is nothing more important in journalism than having readers’ trust,” the Executive Editor of the Des Moines Register Carol Hunter wrote in an opinion piece when she responded to the outrage to the original story. “That reporter is no longer with the Register.”

The controversy didn’t stop people from supporting King and helping him raise money for charity. At the start of this week, donations soared through the roof, reaching more than 2.2 million dollars.

Dear Readers, what do you think about this entire situation? Do you think that Calvin publishing mistakes that King did 8 years ago was the right thing to do? What do you think about internet users then digging up dirt on Calvin? Do you think Calvin deserved to lose his job? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s how some internet users reacted to the entire story

Reporter Digs Dirt On A Man Who Donated Over $2M To A Children’s Hospital, People Respond By Doing The Same To Him

Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

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What do you think ?

POST

Eunice Probert 5 years ago

Oh for goodness sake. What is this obsession with continuing to punish people for stupid things they did as children and teenagers? They're supposed to do stupid things at that age. A heck of a lot of people would not be able to stand up to that kind of scrutiny. Hopefully that is the lesson that the reporter will take away from this and not, ooooh, the nasty internet took away his job.

61points

CP 5 years ago

It all depends on if they learned from their mistakes and changed as a person. Clearly Carson King has. In this case everything worked out as it should.

23points

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CR82 5 years ago

I will be forever grateful that social media did not exist when I was a teenager!!!

50points

Calypso poet 5 years ago

Me too! I consider myself liberal and not a hateful person. But I know I said some dumb a*s s**t that would probably sound racist. I actually have notes my best friend wrote in jr. high and some are hilarious but one has something that seems so horrible now but I know she never meant it that way. She would be devastated if I posted it online. I kind of wish she had kept mine but I guess it’s good she didn’t.

9points

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Arietis 5 years ago

There's a chance the reporter works for a media outlet that encourages this kind of behavior. It was a s****y thing to do, but somehow I get there feeling there's some editor in chief there right now who thanks his lucky stars. Stories like these don't get published by lone wolf reporters, he probably ran the story by his editor and got the approval to publish it. Then the backlash happens and the reporter gets fired.

28points

Aria Whitaker 5 years ago

You are 100% correct: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/des-moines-register-iowa-reporter-fired-aaron-calvin-carson

5points

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Eunice Probert 5 years ago

61points

CP 5 years ago

It all depends on if they learned from their mistakes and changed as a person. Clearly Carson King has. In this case everything worked out as it should.

23points

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