Company Cans CEO Accused Of Criticizing Boy For Wearing Dress To Prom (VIDEO)
A CEO lost his job after he was accused of criticizing a teenage boy in public for wearing a dress to prom.
Video recorded and shared online showed Dalton Stevens, a senior at Franklin High School, claims to have shown a man identified as Sam Johnson, former CEO of telemedicine company, VisuWell.
“I very much view clothes as genderless,” Stevens said.
“He did his big ‘prom-posal’ and asked me to prom,” Jacob Geittman, Stevens’ boyfriend, said. “And he decided he was going to wear a dress, and I’m like, ‘Okay! You’re going to look good in it!’”
“I was very confident,” Stevens said. “I knew that I felt beautiful, and I felt great.”
Stevens claimed that Johnson came back from the bathroom and started to slander him claiming that he looks bad and that he “shouldn’t be wearing a dress.”
“Slander terms thrown towards me of like ‘You look bad,’ ‘You’ve got hair on your chest, you shouldn’t be wearing a dress,’ ‘You’re not a man,’ blah, blah, blah,” Stevens said. “The fact that he thought he had the audacity to come tell me what I was supposed to wear and what I was supposed to do because of his standards.”
Johnson denied the allegations and said that he approached the teens to ask them to “tone down the vulgarities around the families and children who were present.”
“We had just sat down for dinner at this restaurant that we frequent, and I was returning from the restroom when I was presented with their loud cursing,” he explained. “Making it about the dress was their idea and they edited out most of the exchange.”
“I have no ill will towards anyone or their personal choices, so long as it does not harm me or my family,” he concluded.
In response to the video VisuWell fired Johnson and in a written statement said the company has a zero-tolerance for intolerance of any kind:
“We unequivocally condemn the behavior exhibited by Sam Johnson in a recent video widely circulated on social media. After investigating the matter and speaking to individuals involved, the VisuWell BOD has chosen to terminate Mr. Johnson from his position as CEO, effective immediately. Gerry Andrady, our President and COO, will lead the company through this important time. VisuWell’s culture emphasizes respect, kindness, and compassion, especially for those from traditionally marginalized communities, and we maintain a zero-tolerance policy for intolerance of any kind.”
The video posted on social media was edited and the teens were very vulgar seeming to goad Johnson.
(Warning graphic language)
Homophobic POS in Tennessee harasses a teenager for wearing a dress to prom pic.twitter.com/Ftt2a184jX
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) April 26, 2021
Below is the report from the local news station.