A woman was fired from her job after posting a photo to social media showing her giving President Trump or his motorcade the middle finger.
The “middle finger photo” was taken by photographer Brendan Smialowski who was documenting President Trump’s motorcade leaving his golf course in Sterling, Virginia. A cyclist was riding by on the same road and gave Trump’s motorcade the middle finger as the presidential vehicles passed by.
As soon as the photo was released to the public, it quickly circulated online and went viral. The woman was labeled a “hero” and had her own hashtag on Twitter, #Her2020.
Juli Briskman, the woman photographed expressing her feelings toward President Trump was recently fired from her job for posting the image of herself to her Facebook account. When she found the image online, she made it her cover photo on her Facebook page.
Her now-former employer Akima LLC caught wind of her Facebook cover photo update and decided to fire her.
According to the Huffington Post, Briskman first told Akima’s HR department that she was captured in the photograph when she went to work last Monday. On Tuesday, she was called into a meeting and the company said she violated the company’s social media policy by posting the photo to Twitter and Facebook and using it as her profile picture. The image is currently being used as both her profile and cover picture on Twitter, but on Facebook, she’s just featuring it as her cover photo.
Briskman told the Huffington Post the reason she was fired was because their employees are not allowed to post content to their social media accounts that may be considered “lewd” or “obscene” and according to Ms. Briskman, her gesture to President Trump’s motorcade was considered “obscene.”
Briskman emphasized to her former employer that she wasn’t working when the incident happened and her employer isn’t mentioned anywhere on her social media accounts. She also said a male colleague posted lewd comments on their Facebook page, but they weren’t fired. According to Briskman, that person was reprimanded for their behavior and was asked to delete the post. Briskman said the colleague called someone “a f—ing Libtard asshole” in a comment to a post, but was able to keep his job.
Akima LLC is a government contractor and according to what they said to her, the photo could hurt their business. She was only employed at the company for six months before being let go.
Briskman, a proud Democrat, said she plans to look for a new job with an advocacy group such as Planned Parenthood or PETA.
