Should the eNCA lift the suspension of Lance Witten after apologising for his tweet on the #linkinparkAccident in Cape Town? I would argue: Yes
Storified by Cape Town ·
Sat, Nov 10 2012 00:53:04
How much influence should 40 characters have in the life and career of a person? It turns out, it could lead to losing your job if you make a joke at the wrong time: South African eNCA reporter, Lance Witten, was suspended this week in a quick reactive move from the channel...
![eNews suspends sports anchor for Linkin Park tweet]()
eNews suspends sports anchor for Linkin Park tweetIn a statement sent on Thursday afternoon, the TV channel distanced itself from the sports anchor's comments. "Witten's comments do not reflect the views or values of our company. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the young woman who lost her life, and all those who were injured in this terrible accident.
The infamous Lance Witten tweet was in the hours after the tragic accident at the Cape Town Stadium, where the advertising board of scaffolding collapsed in gale force winds on Linkinpark fans - leaving 20 fans with various injuries and one person dead.
It later became known that the deceased was Heaven Popa who moved to Cape Town 6 years ago and worked at the One & Only Hotel. Condolences to her family and friends. And of course, at the time, Lance Witten could not have known her name, nor was the fact verified that someone actually died!
I was surprised by the suspension of Lance Witten when I heard of the action taken by respected eNCA. Granted, @CapeTown unfollowed him - and as curator I personally think that the tweet was tasteless (my own tweet reply was deleted almost right after I was sure he saw it, but by that time he already retweeted his flippant replies to it) :
Other influencers also voiced their opinions early on before his suspension... and I, in fact, became aware of his dark humor and (now deleted) tweet via follower @StephanieBe:
Stephanie's TwitPic of his tweet immediately drew attention and comments, like the one below:
...and by late the evening, she also posted an emotional blog entry about her experience at the Cape Town Stadium and the aftermath, giving much needed context to her taking on Lance Witten in Twitter:
The Problem With Bucket ListsNOTE: I apologize for the nonsensical writing order, it might not make sense, but i need to get it out. Also, if you could keep abuse to a minimum, that'd be great. I'm real, there's a human behind these words and i need you to see that and just let me be.
I took a poll yesterday to determine how followers feel about the suspension of the anchor sports reporter. It reveals a divided public opinion with a bit more in favor in the suspension:
