No, Kansas City didn’t dox Harrison Butker online — but it also failed its employee | Opinion
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Yes, whoever was running Kansas City’s account on social media network X and made a bad joke about Chiefs punter Harrison Butker didn’t think through how the post could be misinterpreted. But that faux pas pales in comparison to the egregious offense committed by a right-wing online news site called America First News, also known as AF Post.
In its haste to identify and shame Kansas City’s social media manager, the outlet erroneously identified the wrong person. Early Friday, we reached out to Kansas City officials seeking comment. Hours later, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on X: “Over the past 24 hours, some seeking to harass, bully, and intimidate have sent slurs and threats to and shared photos of women employees with no involvement with recent City posts.
“Honestly, please just stop, be decent. The buck stops with me. Please leave them alone.”
That city officials failed to timely address the situation is alarming at best and irresponsible at worst. One of their employees was wrongfully accused of putting the Chiefs’ conservative Catholic punter at risk with an ill-advised quip noting that he lives in a suburb, not Kansas City proper. That’s not what doxxing means. And Butker’s city of residence was already publicly available online.
But that’s beside the point. Our concern here is that the name, likeness and address associated with a Kansas City employee — the true definition of doxxing — made the rounds on social media nearly a whole day before the city responded. Too bad this poor innocent person was wrongly identified. Not that we would want the actual person responsible for the post outed either. But Kansas City’s failure to defend its employee with expediency is maddeningly frustrating.
Also on Friday, a member of this editorial board reached out to America First News via direct message on X seeking comment. We wanted to know if the outlet spoke with the person it doxxed to confirm it was them behind the post and if a retraction was in order — it is. Our inquiries weren’t not answered.
Attempts to reach the Kansas City employee in question for comment were not successful either.
This week, Kansas City’s official X account tried to distance itself from the fallout of Butker’s controversial commencement speech last weekend at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas. In his 20-minute speech, Butker railed against President Joe Biden, pro-choice Catholics, abortion rights, Pride month and women in the workforce. The blowback was immediate.
In response, on Wednesday, Kansas City’s X account made the unwise joke. Less than two hours later, that post was deleted and an apology followed. But why did the city drag its feet in issuing a statement supporting its employee who was being attacked online? By Friday afternoon, more than 21 hours had passed since the wayward post from America First News. The prolonged silence was unacceptable.
All Kansas City workers deserve speedy protection from online bullies. In this case, the city should spare no effort in clearing its employee’s name.
Anything less is a dereliction of duty from top officials at Kansas City Hall.
