No, Kansas City didn’t dox Harrison Butker online — but it also failed its employee | Opinion

Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Yes, whoever was running Kansas City’s account on social media network X and made a bad joke about Chiefs punter Harrison Butker didn’t think through how the post could be misinterpreted. But that faux pas pales in comparison to the egregious offense committed by a right-wing online news site called America First News, also known as AF Post.

In its haste to identify and shame Kansas City’s social media manager, the outlet erroneously identified the wrong person. Early Friday, we reached out to Kansas City officials seeking comment. Hours later, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on X: “Over the past 24 hours, some seeking to harass, bully, and intimidate have sent slurs and threats to and shared photos of women employees with no involvement with recent City posts.

“Honestly, please just stop, be decent. The buck stops with me. Please leave them alone.”

That city officials failed to timely address the situation is alarming at best and irresponsible at worst. One of their employees was wrongfully accused of putting the Chiefs’ conservative Catholic punter at risk with an ill-advised quip noting that he lives in a suburb, not Kansas City proper. That’s not what doxxing means. And Butker’s city of residence was already publicly available online.

But that’s beside the point. Our concern here is that the name, likeness and address associated with a Kansas City employee — the true definition of doxxing — made the rounds on social media nearly a whole day before the city responded. Too bad this poor innocent worker was wrongly identified. Not that we would want the actual person responsible for the post outed, either. But Kansas City’s failure to defend its employee with expediency is maddeningly frustrating.

On Friday, a member of this editorial board reached out to America First News via direct message on X seeking comment. We wanted to know if the outlet spoke with the person it doxxed to confirm it was them and whether a retraction was in order — it is. Our inquiries were not answered.

Attempts to reach the Kansas City employee in question for comment were not successful either.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey falsely claimed on X Thursday that the city’s deleted X joke was doxxing. One of the top replies to his post was another user’s reshare of America First News’ erroneous identification.

Bailey also requested copies of all official communications pertaining to the Kansas City X post. Friday afternoon, a spokesperson from the mayor’s offices forwarded copies of letters sent to Bailey and Kansas City employees denouncing the hate spreading online like wildfire.

“The growing online rhetoric on this issue, for which you are fanning the flames, has made City employees targets for online hate mobs and put their personal safety at risk, including leading an employee to leave her home for her safety,” Lucas wrote to Bailey. “Whatever your intent, the consequence of your statements has been a flood of threatening and harassing messages, calls, and posts directed at these public employees and their families. This is unacceptable. As Attorney General, your words carry great weight and influence. I urge you to consider the real-world impact of your rhetoric and actions, particularly as it applies to non-elected officials. Criticism of government statements and elected officials is appropriate, but targeting and implicitly encouraging harassment of individual public servants is reckless and irresponsible. The buck stops with me. Please leave non-elected government workers alone. I am requesting that you immediately cease this dangerous practice and make a public statement condemning the harassment and threats that City employees have received and are receiving. If you object to posting the mere city in which a public figure lives, then you should condemn even more strongly the posting of a municipal employee’s name, photo, and home address alongside racist and genuine threats of violence.”

Kansas City’s official X account shouldn’t have weighed in on Butker’s controversial commencement speech last weekend at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas. In his 20-minute speech, Butker railed against President Joe Biden, pro-choice Catholics, abortion rights, Pride month and women in the workforce. The blowback was immediate.

In response, on Wednesday, Kansas City’s X account made the unwise joke. Less than two hours later, that post was deleted and an apology followed. But why did the city drag its feet in issuing a statement supporting its employee who was being attacked online? By Friday afternoon, more than 21 hours had passed since the wayward post from America First News. The prolonged silence was unacceptable.

All Kansas City workers deserve speedy protection from online bullies. In this case, the city should spare no effort in clearing its employee’s name.

Anything less is a dereliction of duty from top officials at Kansas City Hall.

This story was originally published May 17, 2024 at 2:29 PM.