When Carson King called for personal beer money on national television, he probably didn't expect to end up raising more than $1 million for an Iowa children's hospital. Nor did he expect to have a local reporter conduct a background search that unveiled racist tweets he made when he was 16.
Under The Radar Host Callie Crossley told Boston Public Radio Friday that the Carson King controversy hits at a crucial question in the digital age: At what age should we start holding people accountable for their actions?
"I know there's a question about 16 — should we forget it? Well, that's part of their lives," she said.
King's story came from a request he made for beer money during a pre-game football broadcast. The donations poured into King's Venmo account, he bought a case of Busch Light, and he sent the rest of the money to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital.
Then a reporter from the Des Moines Register assigned to the feel-good story uncovered racist tweets King had made when he was 16.
Anheuser-Busch had pledged to match King's fundraising totals, but cut ties with King after the tweets were uncovered.
Some people were so outraged at what they claimed was the latest example of 'cancel culture' — a form of boycott, usually against celebrities — that they did some digging on the reporter's history.
Lo and behold, those searching found offensive tweets written by the reporter himself. The newspaper stood by their coverage of King, but have since fired the reporter.
Crossley said that while people should be held accountable for their actions, she acknowledged that King's apology felt sincere and noted that he didn't put any conditions on his apology.
"The first thing you have to do is acknowledge, so I'm giving Carson King an acknowledgment. I don't think he's sitting around thinking about stuff he said when he [was] 16," she said. "He didn't say, what I really appreciated, '[I'm sorry] if someone was offended.' He just said, 'This was horrible.'"
