Social Networking Their Way Out of Jobs

What do Dan Leone and Jon-Barrett Ingels have in common? They both lost their jobs after ill-advised posts on social-networking services.

Leone was a stadium-operations employee for the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles who lost his job in March after longtime Eagles safety Brian Dawkins signed with the Denver Broncos. The Facebook status update that cost Leone his job: “Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver…Dam Eagles R Retarted!!”

But that’s where the similarities end. Leone messed up once, while Ingels was guilty of multiple transgressions.

Ingels, a former waiter at Barney Greengrass in Beverly Hills, lost his job over Twitter, not Facebook, and he lost his job over several tweets, not one, according to CNET and the Los Angeles Times‘ Brand X.

Ingels’ tweets managed to tweak Jane Adams of HBO’s Hung (an incident he also wrote about on his blog), Ali Larter of NBC’s Heroes, B.J. Novak of NBC’s The Office and Tori Spelling of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame.

The Adams incident was likely the trigger for his dismissal. According to Ingels, via CNET and Brand X, Adams ordered soup and lemonade and received a check for $13.44, then claimed she left her wallet in her car and never returned to Barney Greengrass. Her agent then paid the bill the following day but failed to tip, leading to this tweet: “Tues: Jane Adams, star of HBO series “Hung,” skipped out on a $13.44 check. Her agent called and payed the following day. NO TIP!!!” An angry Adams apparently returned to the restaurant the following month, handed Ingels a $3 tip and said, “Well, I read about it on Twitter!”

Ingels’ attempts at damage control did not save his job, as he tweeted about Adams, “For the record, I think Jane Adams (Hung) is a great actress!!” and “Jane Adams (Hung), if you’re listening, I am producing a Web series and would love you in it!!!”

As for the other celebrities, Ingels tweeted that Larter was “not wearing a bra,” Novak was “hungover” and Spelling had “become hot,” according to CNET and Brand X.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.