# The Digital Footprint

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/the-digital-footprint/
- Published: 2018-07-21T12:00:43-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

Midday Friday, James Gun was fired by Marvel Studios from Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3; he was in the process of writing the movie that he’d direct. The cause of
his firing: Tweets he made in 2010.

[Josh Hader](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haderjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-)
of the Milwaukee Brewers went through a similar situation on Wednesday night, as
he was pitching in the All Star game; old tweets from his high school days were 
resurrected to show his ignorance.

It begs the question: have people not heard about their digital footprint?

I’ve been hearing for years to watch what you put on social media; for a lowly white
collar worker, it’s because your current or future employer could be checking your
Facebook, Twitter, etc. It’s something that many people stress over (if you check
my social media, you’ll see I’m a little more lax on it).

Gunn lost a job that made him a household name in comic book circles; he took a 
lesser know property and made it into a household name. Just because he was making
some bad jokes.
 [](https://i0.wp.com/www.nyrdcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Gunn-Tweets.png?ssl=1)(
Click to enlarge)

Of course, these tweets were brought up when he started on the first movie, and 
he cut his teeth making movies for Trauma. Disney, who owned Marvel when they started
production on GOTG Vol 1, knew these tweets were out their; they could have had 
him or his people delete them (and probably should have). Instead, in this #metoo
movement era, Gunn is looking for a new job and comic fans are now worried about
the future of the Guardians.

Hader could be in a similar situation; the reliever for the Brewers has gained recognition
for his remarkable season. Now he’s getting recognition for making some racist tweets
when he was in high school (and just for the record, some of the tweets were out
of context music lyrics).
 [](https://i0.wp.com/www.nyrdcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Hader-Tweets.png?ssl=1)(
Click to enlarge)

The Brewers should be vetting this stuff when they draft, sign, or acquire a player.
The player’s agent and PR firm should be checking this stuff when they sign on with
the agency.

I’m not absolving Gunn or Hader for their actions; some of what they wrote made 
me sick to my stomach. I’m am saying to give them the benefit of the doubt. How 
many of us have made dumb comments when we were younger? How many of us regret the
ones we remember? How many of us could be in trouble if you go back 5, 10, 20 years
in our social media history?

I’m using these situations to help my kids understand their digital footprint; I’ve
been lucky to have schools that are teaching them this stuff in their technology
classes (in Elementary School), but it’s the parent’s job to ensure they truly understand.
It’s also part of the reason they aren’t allowed to have social media accounts until
they are 18

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