The Plain Dealer Takes Tony Grossi Off Cleveland Browns Beat
In a surprising move on Wednesday, Tony Grossi was removed of his duties as Cleveland Browns beat writer for The Plain Dealer.
It all started last week, when Grossi accidentally sent what was supposed to be a direct message on Twitter to his entire group of followers. And he picked the worst subject to harshly criticize: Browns owner Randy Lerner.
“He’s a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,” Grossi said, though the tweet was later deleted. Once people caught wind of it, The Plain Dealer and Grossi apologized, but that doesn’t appear to have been enough.
Now that Grossi has been ousted, the speculation as to how it all went down can begin. It’s easy to assume that Lerner heard what Grossi had said about him and requested that he be removed from the beat, but a move this drastic easily has a backstory with more layers than just that.
It’s too bad for Grossi that the end of his run as a Browns beat writer came down to an errant tweet. It’s a testament to the fact that, in this day and age, where social networks make people more accessible than ever, public figures must be especially careful as to how they present themselves.