Duke official's complaint about rap music gets 2 coffee shop employees fired: reports
Larry Moneta is vice president for student affairs at Duke University.
(Duke University)
A Duke University official who just last month tweeted about the importance of freedom of expression is now under fire after his complaints about rap music at a campus coffee shop led to the firing of two of the shop’s employees.
The complaints by Larry Moneta, Duke’s vice president for student affairs, were reportedly triggered by the song “Get Paid,” by Young Dolph, the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., reported.
Moneta told the newspaper in an email that he was particularly concerned about a song lyric that says, “I f---ed her up real good.”
"I expressed my objections to the staff with whom I’ve always had a cordial relationship. I insisted on paying for my purchase and left the store,” Moneta wrote about his Friday visit to the Joe Van Gogh shop. “I then contacted the director of Duke Dining to express my concerns and that was the end of my involvement.”
He then added: “To those who feel that I’ve flipped on my positions on free expression, I say this: The artist who wrote, recorded and performed the music is absolutely entitled to do so, however offensive I might find the lyrics.”
“To those who feel that I’ve flipped on my positions on free expression, I say this: The artist who wrote, recorded and performed the music is absolutely entitled to do so, however offensive I might find the lyrics.”
Nevertheless, shop baristas Britini Brown and Kevin Simmons both found out this week that they had been fired, the News & Observer reported.
According to Indy Week, Brown was working the cash register that day, and offered to let Moneta have a muffin for free after he complained about the music. Brown said she turned off the song immediately when Moneta complained, the website reported.
Simmons told Indy Week that Moneta appeared to be verbally harassing Brown about the matter.
“’Harrassing’ is definitely the word I would use,” Simmons told the website.
“’Harrassing’ is definitely the word I would use.”
Moneta claimed he bore no responsibility for the employees losing their jobs.
“The employees who chose to play the song in a business establishment on the Duke campus made a poor decision which was conveyed to the JVG management,” Moneta wrote in his email. “How they responded to the employees’ behavior was solely at their discretion.”
On April 27, the News & Observer reported, Moneta had tweeted in defense of the First Amendment. “Freedom of expression protects the oppressed far more than the oppressors,” he wrote.