Damielys Duarte/Assistant Opinion Director
Joel Franco was a common name on South Florida social media feeds just a few weeks ago for his popular approach to tweeting local news. Today, he is on them for all the wrong reasons.
Rape allegations against Franco arose after his arrest on May 31. Franco had been arrested during a Black Lives Matter protest in Downtown, Miami, which led to him being celebrated as a symbol of the free press. However, the exposure from his arrest incited past sexual assault victims to speak up against him, and old offensive tweets further soil his reputation, effectively costing him his recent career in social media journaling with news channel WSVN.
In an infamous 2013 tweet that resurfaced, Franco wrote, “Just imagine me whispering in your ear from behind. then raping u.” Another one read “#JoelFrancoPickUpLines girl I’m hoping they legalize rape right now ;)” A third exchange from the same year arose after a young woman on Twitter asked: “How can people hate being drunk?????? I love it” to which Franco responded: “easy rape target.”
Such content has only added fuel to the flames as people began to compare his old tweets with the allegations of his misconduct during that time, some of which were with minors.
Franco’s case is one of hundreds in which men have risen professionally and then faced sexual assault allegations from past actions they committed in their youth. By no means is that an excuse for their actions, but only a spotlight of the potential repercussions of social media, where incriminating posts from your past can resurface and negatively affect your current professional and personal standing.
With a little over 50,000 followers just three weeks ago, the ex-WSVN social media reporter’s following has plummeted to 37,000, illustrating the sharp rise and fall of social media stardom and how quickly it can all be lost.
No amount of good deeds can erase an ugly stain you left online years ago.
So far, seven women have come forward with old text messages from 2011 onward where Franco has threatened to release nude photos of them and shown signs of manipulation. Four spoke to the Miami Herald and one under the alias of “Isabelle” admitted to dating Franco when she was 13 years old and he was 15.
She went on to say “He was very obsessive, very possessive, very manipulative, very controlling,” and admitted he would harass and grope her—once even in an abandoned building across from her house. When she tried to break up with him, he threatened to release nude photos of her.
The same occurred for “Fiona” who dated Franco when she was 13 and he was 18 going on 19. She admitted to performing oral sex on him when he took her to the abandoned Parkway Regional West Medical Center.
With these instances come many more of young women and girls accusing Franco of previous sexual assault. In response to the allegations he pinned a thread to his Twitter account stating “I did not rape anyone. The relationships were consensual and both families were aware.”
While no charges have been pressed against him at this time, this story serves as a vital lesson to the potential pitfalls of social media, where content from your past can come back and further incriminate you. No amount of good deeds can erase an ugly stain you left online years ago. Right now, Franco’s journalistic integrity is doing little to support his plea of innocence as those old texts and social media posts continue to resurface.
With the increasing use of social media to promote personal and professional goals, we must all pay attention to what we are posting and ensure that later in the future we will not turn around and regret our comments or be ashamed of them.
Featured image by World’s Direction on Flickr.
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