How a Philly Mag Journalist Sued an Angry Facebook Commenter — and Won
By Victor Fiorello, writing for Philadelphia Magazine…
I have a thick skin. You have to if you decide to be a journalist, particularly these days, when the hatred and vitriol against the media is palpable, endemic, and fostered by some of the most powerful people in the world. You add to that the cesspool that is social media as well as the belief some people seem to have that they can say anything they want to say on social media and beyond with impunity, and, well, it’s not an easy job.
I’m called all manner of names and receive hateful emails, DMs and comments on a regular basis. My family and friends are always amazed how these things just roll off my back. Unlike most journalists, I actually respond to much of the negativity from readers, generally not with my own negativity but with probing questions in an attempt to start something approaching a meaningful and civilized dialogue. No, it usually doesn’t work. But sometimes it does. And sometimes readers are downright shocked when I respond. A few have become friendly acquaintances, even though we disagree about almost everything.
All that said, one reader, Ryan Joseph Nelson of Delco, took it one giant leap too far earlier this year. On January 31st, I published an article about a Black woman who filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against a restaurant at a Delco country club. The woman, who had worked at the restaurant, claimed that white workers routinely refused to serve Black customers and that she regularly was forced to listen to racist jokes. The Inquirer and other media outlets also reported on the case. (The suit settled over the summer with confidential terms.)
I shared the article on social media, including in a 44,000-plus member Facebook community group serving Delco. Some readers in that group commented in support of the woman. Others, not so much. Par for the course. But a series of comments from Nelson were anything but typical.
In those comments, he referred to me as a pedophile, a child molester, a kiddie diddler, a chomo (I had to look it up), a child groomer, and someone who is guilty of corruption of minors. It became clear in subsequent comments that he called me these things because he was aware of my other job, which is as pianist and manager for The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret, a drag queen-fronted band that sells out venues like Union Transfer and the TLA and has been around for 20 years.
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