By KC Mason
Gerod Roth, more commonly known as Geris Hilton, became arguably one of the most hated men on the Internet this past week for a Facebook thread that went down a dark, racist path. He spoke to Rise News in an exclusive interview about what happened and why he believes he is a victim.
To sum up the social media firestorm: Roth took a photo with Cayden, the three year old son of one of his coworkers Sydney Jade. Roth made the photo his profile picture on Facebook and his Facebook friends started to make racially charged comments about Cayden. Roth did not remove the comments and added to the conversation that the child was “feral.” Weeks later, the post went viral and Roth was forced out of his job. While his former company said they fired him, Roth said that he quit before the controversy. While Roth claims some of the screenshots of the conversation circulating are photoshopped, he admits that he did make the comment calling the child “feral.”
The questions for this interview are based in part on the public statement Roth posted to his Facebook account on October 6th.
Q: You said that you feel that you were targeted, what do you think caused you to be targeted in this way?
Roth: Awhile back I went on this huge rant on Facebook, and part of the rant was that, ‘it’s not just black lives that matter; all lives matter.’ I went on to kind of elaborate in the comments section and I was like, ‘I don’t mean that black lives don’t matter; I support the movement and I support #BlackLivesMatter, I just don’t like that the message has been misconstrued by some people to advocate killing cops and white people in protest.’ That’s not what it means and that’s not what it’s about. I support the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole; police brutality is a real issue. It’s a very real problem in our modern day society. I agree that these issues need to be addressed, but I don’t agree with some skewed interpretations of the movement. That’s exactly where I think this whole ordeal derived from. I think that someone in my friends network did not like my opinion on the matter, and then saw an opportunity in my profile picture and took advantage of it.
Q: People online have been shaming you for comments that your Facebook friends made on your profile picture. You admitted in your public statement on Facebook that you did consider some of those people to be friends and have since unfriended them, but how many of your Facebook friends do you know and consider friends in real life?
Roth: 90 percent of the people on my Facebook are people that I’ve never met in person. I cannot vouch for their character and I definitely don’t condone or support everything they post. They’re just networking and EDM industry connections.
Q: Do you know when the comments on your profile originally took a racist turn?
Roth: Unfortunately, no. When looking back at the screen caps, they all just say ‘September 16’ so there’s no way for me to track the time stamp on them. I wasn’t watching as it was happening. I’m very infrequent with my actual Facebooking, even though my work does deal with Facebook. Most of the time I’m involved in messages back in forth with people trying to set up and conduct interviews and stuff like that. When I did finally look at my notifications that’s when I saw the [racist] remarks and I told people, ‘you guys need to stop. This is my public profile. Stop. Cayden’s mom is on this page. Stop.’
Q: Can you explain why you didn’t delete the racist comments after asking people to stop?
Roth: Personally for me, looking back at it, I just didn’t think to actually delete the comments. That’s the honest to God truth. It was just a lackadaisical moment. I’m very busy, I’m in my office dealing with stuff in my professional job with PMG, I was just busy and I overlooked it. I sent the comment out asking people to stop; I didn’t really have time to go through and delete all the comments.
Q: Do you know as of yet who originally photoshopped the screenshot that went viral?*
Roth: I’ve been looking everywhere. I literally have a brigade of people on Facebook and Twitter looking for it. I’m going through Facebook customer service, trying to find and verify the origin of the photoshopped screenshot, but to no avail whatsoever.
Q: You’ve mentioned that there’s ongoing investigations into this issue, what can you tell us about that?
Roth: I could say that there is an investigation, although I’m not sure if that’s the proper or legal term for it. I don’t know if it’s even at a legal level yet, but there’s a lot of research being done by many individuals and organizations. Right now they’re just collecting data- screenshots, tweets, Facebook posts, everything.
Photo Credit: Geris Hilton/ Facebook
Q: There are many other offensive screenshots/posts coming out from Twitter and Facebook accounts that all claim to be you but that have been called fake by you and your supporters. Do you have any information on these fake accounts?
(fake facebook messenger screenshot, one fake twitter account, specific post from fake account)
Roth: The posts coming from these fake accounts are ridiculous. Honestly, me and my friends have shut down at least 10 fake accounts at this point. That’s across platforms. I never knew how hard it is to monitor people on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter all at once.
When asked about this post:
Q: What about that Twitter account that made a joke about Cayden’s mom being mad that you turned her down?
Roth: I can most definitely attest to the fact that that is not my account.
At this point I think the public is really looking at, you know, my Facebook account. That’s where everything originated; it’s the root of the problem. I feel like everyone’s just looking at that Facebook account, especially after I released my public statement. I made everything public. Everyone’s able to comment and say a piece of their mind.
Q: You said that news outlets and PMG falsely reported the reasons for your leaving PMG. Could you elaborate on that?
Roth: I was their Director of Operations, the HR manager, but I got a letter of termination on the 29th [of September] and this story came out around the 1st or 2nd [of October]. Basically they got that completely turned around. PMG kinda turned on me and slandered my name.
Q: So if you weren’t fired due to racism, why did you get terminated?
Roth: It was a mutual decision. I left with a full severance package due to organizational restructuring.
Q: Did they withdraw the severance package?
Roth: No, I received the severance package on Friday [October 2nd] this last week when they were already aware of what was going on.
Q: You said they withdrew their original statement and released another, did they ever admit to misrepresenting you and the reasons you left the company?
Roth: They never admitted to it, but they told Fox 5 yesterday [October 5th] that I left of my own accord/ for different reasons. That’s the only place they’ve said anything [like that].
Q: It’s been reported that, in addition to losing your job with PMG, you also lost your job with Your EDM. What can you tell us about that situation?
Roth: Unfortunately I’m officially terminated from Your EDM.
Q: In conclusion, is there anything else you’d like to say?
Roth: I’m so floored right now. I really cannot comprehend what has been going on the last few days with people only getting one side of the story and people blindly going off of doctored screenshots. The media is guilty of blowing things out of proportion, taking a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ approach and it’s ruining journalism.
Disclaimer: KC Mason is a friend of Roth’s. However we felt it appropriate for their Q&A session to be published publicly.
*Rise News could not authenticate whether some images circulating on social media were photoshopped or not. This question was asked in direct response to a prior statement by Roth.
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Miami Archbishop Announces Findings Of Investigation Into Priest Accused Of Improprieties
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski released a letter to the parishioners of St. Rose of Lima in Miami Shores today on his investigation of the parish’s former priest Father Pedro Corces.
In it, Wenski claimed that many of the allegations leveled against Corces in a 129 page dossier of information were not true.
However, Wenski’s investigation also found that Corces was not fit for service as a parish priest and he accepted Corces’ resignation.
Wenski’s investigation was prompted after a group of concerned parents at St. Rose accused Corces of putting children at the school in “grave danger” after he allegedly hired a man as a school maintenance worker who was once arrested on prostitution charges.
The parents united under the name of Christifidelis and they paid a private investigator over $3,500 to surveil Father Corces to help them build a case against him. Once they could no longer afford the investigator’s services, parents took to surveilling Father Corces on their own, even digging around the rectory trash to find incriminating documents.
The parent’s report also alleged that Father Corces took frequent expensive vacations, sometimes with a St. Rose maintenance worker and that he often spent the night at the same workers condo where they claimed Corces paid the cable bill.
Read More: Miami Priest Accused Of Hiring School Maintenance Worker Who Was Once Arrested For Prostitution
During the investigation, Wenski said that Corces volunteered to take a polygraph exam and that the priest denied any sexual improprieties with school maintenance staff.
“The investigation of these allegations is now completed,” Wenski said in the letter. “Based on the outcome of extensive interviews of all persons that could have knowledge of the truth of these allegations as well as the results of a voluntary polygraph examination of Fr. Corces, it is concluded that no sexual impropriety had occurred. Nevertheless, Father’s decisions to hire friends to work for the Parish and his continues socializing with them outside the Parish did contribute to the perception among some of inappropriate behavior.”
Read the whole letter:
Letter from Archbishop Wenski on Fr. Corces Investigation
Interestingly, while short on specifics, Wenski’s letter did say something damning about Corces:
“The investigation did identify other deficiencies with Fr. Corces’ administration in which we failed to follow clear Archdiocesan policies.”
While trying to put a bow on the story, Wenski may have only opened up more questions as to the full extent of what actually happened.
For example, which specific deficiencies were there with Corces’ administration?
Which clear Archdiocesan policies did he not follow?
Why was Sister Bernadette Keane fired from her role as principal before the end of the school year?
Did the maintenance worker not have a criminal record when he was hired?
This is a developing story. Stay with RISE NEWS for further updates.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
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This Jeb Bush Video Is The “Frattiest” Campaign Ad Ever
Jeb Bush visited the University of Georgia on Saturday where he campaigned around fraternity row and shook some bro hands on game-day.
For anyone familiar with southern colleges, this is not at all surprising. The Greek System in the Deep South is typically conservative leaning.
But check out this Bush campaign video that could have been ripped straight off of Total Frat Move’s homepage.
One member of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign thinks so too:
I think this may be the frattiest presidential ad of all time. https://t.co/8p1XL5TUR5
— Ian Sams (@IanSams) September 21, 2015
Watch the video for yourself:
Shook a lot of hands and took some selfies between the hedges. But in Athens, no one’s as in demand as UGA IX. https://t.co/9WJZuJQtdk
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) September 21, 2015
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Cover Photo Credit: Jeb Bush Campaign/ Screenshot
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No Internet, Leonardo Dicaprio Did Not Get Raped By A Bear
Despite reports to the contrary, world renowned actor and philanthropist Leonardo Dicaprio did not get raped by a bear in his new film The Revenant.
Drudge Report had exclusively reported that the actor’s character was raped twice by a bear in the survivor film set in the 1820s.
“The bear flips Leo over and thrusts and thrusts during the explicit mauling.
‘He is raped — twice!'”
This of course is not even close to being true according to Fox, the studio that produced the picture.“There is clearly no rape scene with a bear,” A Fox statement obtained by The New Republic said.The film centers around the life of Hugh Glass, a real life explorer who was brutally mauled by a bear and left for dead. Glass survived the attack after a harrowing 200 mile journey to the nearest American outpost.
WATCH: Trailer for The Revenant.
Cover Photo Credit: Youtube (Fox)/ Screengrab
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