Skip to main content

Des Moines Register Clarifies: "Our own self-righteousness is more important than sick kids." (Satire)

Des Moines, IA - Facing immense criticism for surfacing 7 year-old tweets from football fan Carson King after he successfully raised over $1.3 million for a children's hospital, the Des Moines Register issued a press release on its website and social media channels defending their actions. You can read the full press-release below:

"We deeply appreciate the generosity of King to donate the entirety of the immense sum of money he came into out of the blue to the University of Iowa's Stead Children's Hospital. However, while doing a routine background check one of our staff members came across two tweets featuring jokes made in poor taste over 7 years ago when King was 16. During an internal meeting to discuss the discovery, we had to ask ourselves: 'Is attempting to derail an incredible, spontaneous philanthropic effort that has raised over $1.3 million and counting for sick children over some primal lust for self-righteousness really worth it?' And the unanimous answer was 'Abso-f*&cking-lutely.' We wanted to send a clear message that tearing down others who are clearly much better human beings than you is a great way to compensate for your own lack of humanity. Yes, even if that means potentially halting thousands upon thousands of more dollars that could continue to be raised for sick children."

Shortly after knowledge of the tweets became public, Aaron Calvin, the journalist who conducted the background check on King had his own troubling past tweets surface online. When asked to comment on the taste of his own medicine, Calvin replied "Hey, hey, hey! You don't get to do that to me. I'm the journalist here!"

Many readers online were quick to point out the absurdity of conducting a thorough background check that involved combing through nearly a decades' worth of social media posts on someone who literally just raised vast sums of money for sick children while not subjecting their own employees to the same background check.

"Well how the hell are we supposed to get a self-righteous kick out of something one of our own employees did?" An editor for the Des Moines Register told one of our own reporters while quite literally combing through that reporter's social media past right in front of him.

"Ha! Gotcha now!" he screamed in delight. "Oh wait, you were clearly trying to say "not see" and you must have been using a speech to text software. Well maybe if we just include that small part of the caption without any context and leave out the photo people might take it the wrong way..."

At press time, the editor had made it as far as 2008 in the reporter's Twitter feed while an intern had just reached 2011 prom pictures on Facebook.


*Full Disclaimer: As an obvious piece of satire, none of these quotes are real. Duh.

Follow Tales from the Heart of Huskerland on Social Media! 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

BREAKTHROUGH: After Decades of 'N is for Knowledge,' World's Scientists Announce Creation of 2nd Nebraska Joke

After over four decades of milking the exact same joke about Nebraska football, the world's top scientists in every major field of research have come together to announce the creation of a 2nd joke. The original joke simply proclaims the 'N' on the side of Nebraska's football helmet stands for 'Knowledge.' They announced this breakthrough was the culmination of 10 years of collaborative research and over $250 billion spent. "Normally we'd spend that kind of time and resources on medical advances, technological breakthroughs, more efficient methods of engineering and manufacturing, but this joke had just gotten so stale. We eventually came to the conclusion that the best possible service we could do for society was to help them out of this rut," world-renowned quantum theorist Alain Aspect said. "I mean, come on! The joke doesn't even make sense. By the very structure of the joke, the joke teller is the one insisting the N stands for knowle...

To Break Nebraska Football Curse, Frank Solich to Sacrifice 'Lil Red at Halftime of Fordham Game

Lincoln, NE - After finding yet another Rock Bottom last week at Illinois, Nebraska football finds itself growing increasingly desperate to break the almost 2 decade curse that has befallen the program. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced this week that former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich would be returning to Memorial Stadium to perform a blood sacrifice of 'Lil Red while dressed as the original fan favorite "Blonde Herbie" during halftime of the Fordham game.  "We thank 'Lil Red and the unfortunate student scheduled to play him this Saturday for their long service to this university," said new UNL Athletic Director Trev Alberts in a statement released on Friday. "But these are desperate times and 'Lil Red was always kind of stupid anyway." The source of the curse remains unknown, but its existence has long centered around 3 popular fan theories: 1. The introduction of 'Lil Red as a mascot 2. The retirement of "Blonde Her...

$5.8M in Brick Wall Related Damages Reported in Nebraska after Scott Frost Releases Hype Video

Lincoln, NE - The state of Nebraska is reeling Friday morning from devastation and destruction caused by a hype video released Thursday afternoon by Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost on Twitter, sending thousands of fans across the state sprinting straight through the nearest brick wall, severely threatening the structural integrity of countless buildings. pic.twitter.com/2BR8slArsW — Scott Frost (@coach_frost) June 20, 2019 "WHO YOU ARE SOME OF THE TIME IS WHO YOU ARE ALL OF THE TIME," screamed Hastings resident Derick Bachmeier as he plowed through the exterior wall of the local Russ' Market and straight into the produce section. Even residents as far as the Sand Hills found themselves caught up in the hype as Randy Grove, 64, drove over 45 minutes to find a brick wall to his liking with the specific intention of sprinting straight through it. "I mean sure there were some cavity brick walls nearby, as well as dry wall, wood paneling and all ...