A Republican councilman from Frederick County, Maryland, stepped in it when he posted a threat on his Facebook page regarding an alleged “hit piece” about him published by The Frederick News-Post.
In the post, Kirby Delauter wrote that the author of the piece, Bethany Rodgers, had “absolutely no morals or journalistic ability,” threatening that if she ever used his name again she’ll be “paying for an attorney.”
As NBC reports, “To say the paper ignored the Republican’s threat would be an understatement.”
It published an editorial Tuesday entitled: “Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter.” The piece used his name no less than 26 times and even featured an acrostic — spelling KIRBY DELAUTER with the first letter of each paragraph. “What’s Kirby Delauter going to do?” the newspaper asked. “Sue everyone who’s making fun of him on Twitter using the #kirbydelauter hashtag, or on Facebook? Boy, his attorney will be able to retire off that.”
The editorial was a red rag to the bull of social media, with readers sharing it some 20,000 times on Facebook and 6,000 times on Twitter. The hashtag #kirbydelauter received some 11,000 mentions on Twitter on Tuesday, with various memes based on “Breaking Bad,” the TV game show “Wheel of Fortune,” and “Lord of the Rings.”
The story even went international with the BBC reporting about it in an article entitled: #KirbyDelauter becomes a Twitter punching bag.
You can see a few of our favorite tweets, below, beginning with one from Bethany:
Appreciate all the love today, Twitterverse. Thanks to you, I type the name of #KirbyDelauter without any fear tonight 😉
— Bethany Rodgers (@BethRodgersFNP) January 7, 2015
I knew a guy who got his #KirbyDelauter stuck in his zipper.
— Badlifestyle (@Badlifestyle) January 7, 2015
The one true #KirbyDelauter pic.twitter.com/JZW9FGQ9Ft
— Adam Marshall (@a_marshall_plan) January 6, 2015
.@Badlifestyle It's like a Harvey Wallbanger for litigious and profoundly stupid RW douchebags. #KirbyDelauter
— The Abbot Trithemius (@BarricadesBloom) January 7, 2015
How random is this? I go to eat my alphabet soup, and… #KirbyDelauter #PleaseDontSueMeBro cc: @Popehat pic.twitter.com/GsirvOfWBM
— Josh Smith (@ThisIsJoshSmith) January 7, 2015
#KirbyDelauter A republican with delusions of grandeur & anger issues is news? They're no longer minimum requirements for party membership?
— mock_you_men_tory (@LiteisoN) January 7, 2015
When it comes to attempted bullying reporters, did Michael Grimm pull a #KirbyDelauter, or did #KirbyDelauter pull a Michael Grimm?
— RiskyLiberal (@RiskyLiberal) January 7, 2015
Say my name. #KirbyDelauter pic.twitter.com/sJG6Ngv8ZM
— Robert Smith (@justrobertsmith) January 7, 2015
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