The former CBS lawyer — who was fired for commenting that she was unsympathetic toward the “country music fans” who were victims of the Las Vegas shooting because they are often “Republican gun toters” — claims she is receiving online threats.
The New York Post reported that Hayley Geftman-Gold, former vice president and senior counsel for CBS, received “threats on her Facebook page” and that law enforcement officials are “investigating her complaint.”
Geftman-Gold posted her comments on Facebook Monday, shortly after a gunman opened fire on attendees of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 and injuring 489 people.
“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing,” Geftman-Gold wrote. “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters .”
CBS promptly fired her, with a spokesperson for the company writing in a statement that Geftman-Gold’s comments are “deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS” and that the company supported the victims of the shooting and their families.
Geftman-Gold’s attorney mentioned that her client received threats in her statement to the press following the fallout from the comments.
“In the last few hours my client, her family and friends have been bombarded by online death [threats] unimaginable in quantity and detail. We beg people to show love and support to survivors and loved ones — in Las Vegas and their own lives — instead of creating more violence,” her attorney said.
Geftman-Gold eventually issued a statement of her own, apologizing for her comments:
I posted an indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen Paddock’s terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor do they reflect my actual beliefs — this senseless violence warrants the deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words have incurred.
Geftman-Gold worked with CBS since 2016, although she did not work directly with the news side of the business. She graduated from Columbia Law School in 2000.
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