RantCrush Top 5: May 30, 2017

A reporter for the Denver Post was fired yesterday after he made some insensitive comments about a Japanese driver, Takuma Sato, who won the Indy 500 over the weekend. “Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend,” the reporter, Terry Frei, tweeted. Sato is the first Japanese driver to win the race. Social media users immediately lashed out at Frei, calling him xenophobic and racist.

@TFrei Definition of “sensitive” = being made very uncomfortable by a Japanese driver winning the Indy 500 because of a 70-year-old war.

— Ryan Gray (@ryangraytwit) May 28, 2017

Frei later deleted his first tweet but sent another one that seemed to be directed at his critics. “THIS is what Memorial Day is about. Dave Schreiner’s death in Battle of Okinawa. Not for squeamish or ‘sensitive.’” Then he deleted that one as well and eventually apologized. But it was all too little, too late, and yesterday the Denver Post tweeted that Frei is out of a job.

OK, I took out the name of a book. pic.twitter.com/b953FbqMEh

— Terry Frei (@TFrei) May 29, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.