# Viral Rampaging Idiots being Fired - What Next For Them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2025, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985 "2025-12-23T16:07:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/21 "2025-12-23T23:38:08Z")
Brock Turner’s story amazed me, because of how badly he fucked things up, for himself as well as his victim. At the time of his crime, he was a member of the Stanford University swim team, with a good shot of making the US Summer Olympic swim team, and, as I remember, in a pre-med program. In short, he could have had a golden future. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/22 "2025-12-23T23:42:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In short, he could have had a golden future. … if only he wasn’t a raging entitled asshole who was going to destroy himself sooner or later, but probably sooner. Just a shame he had to hurt that woman along the way to his ignominious end. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/23 "2025-12-23T23:43:09Z")
I saw Brock Turner’s mug shot after his arrest; he was basically normal looking. Surely at a university full of other students his own age, he could have had all of the dates he wanted? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/24 "2025-12-23T23:43:48Z")
Rape isn’t about getting dates. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/25 "2025-12-23T23:45:26Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > However, viral fame can be a step forward on the social media income path. The woman who saw something in the back of the plane leveraged her infamy to start an account on OnlyFans. That’s not a story I recognize. Can you give a cite or other details? I’m not disputing you, I’d just like to learn more about whatever / whoever it is you’re talking about. But big picture, you’re certainly right that in today’s lurid “reality tv” era of social media, anyone who is randomly selected for their 15 minutes of fame has a decent shot at parlaying that into a permanent gig of being famous for being famous. Or infamous for being outrageous. All they need is a big mouth and a brash attitude. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/26 "2025-12-23T23:48:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > That’s not a story I recognize. Can you give a cite or other details? I’m not disputing you, I’d just like to learn more about whatever / whoever it is you’re talking about. It was this woman: > **['Crazy Plane Lady' Uses Viral Fame To Launch OnlyFans-Style Content Page With...](https://perezhilton.com/crazy-plane-lady-launches-raunchy-of-style-account-viral-fame-bikini-pictures-passes-subscription/)** > > Nearly two years after she went mega-viral as the so-called "crazy plane lady" for her meltdown on an American Airlines flight, Tiffany Gomas is She was in the aisle of a plane having a psychotic episode saying she saw a monster in the back of the plane and it shouldn’t take off. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/27 "2025-12-23T23:51:14Z")
Yes. One revealing discovery from DNA investigations is “date rapists” and “stranger rapists” aren’t two different populations - there’s a lot of overlap > **[An Epidemic of Disbelief](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/an-epidemic-of-disbelief/592807/)** > > What new research reveals about sexual predators, and why police fail to catch them > Historically, investigators had assumed that someone who assaults a stranger by the railroad tracks is nothing like the man who assaults his co-worker or his girlfriend. But it turns out that the space between acquaintance rape and stranger rape is not a wall, but a plaza. When Cleveland investigators uploaded the DNA from the acquaintance-rape kits, they were surprised by how often the results also matched DNA from unsolved stranger rapes. The task force identified dozens of mystery rapists this way. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/28 "2025-12-23T23:56:01Z")
One such story I remember was that of [Justine Sacco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming#Justine_Sacco_incident), who almost exactly twelve years ago, tweeted as she boarded a flight to South Africa, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” She was then offline for the entire eleven-hour flight, while her post gathered attention online. I think she was even fired mid-flight. But she was entirely offline during the flight so she knew none of this, until she landed. And she was employed as the communications director of InterActiveCorp. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/29 "2025-12-23T23:59:20Z")
Wait, in 2013, someone thought that being white would protect them from AIDS? I can see someone maybe being that ignorant in 1985 or so, but 2013? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/30 "2025-12-23T23:59:34Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > She was in the aisle of a plane having a psychotic episode saying she saw a monster in the back of the plane and it shouldn’t take off. At least it’s not William Shatner doing OnlyFans. _Nightmare At 20,000 Feet,_ indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/31 "2025-12-24T00:04:45Z")
@Jackmannii mentioned her already > [@Viral Rampaging Idiots being Fired - What Next For Them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/4): > > I suspect that long-term outcomes vary with the offense and whether criminal activity is involved. Justine Sacco was an exec who lost her job over a dumb/offensive social media post. She seems to have overcome the fallout. Getting drunk and attacking restaurant staff, then continuing an assault outside might be harder to overlook, especially if employers decide the incident reflects deeper issues. But with so many people acting out, the availability of p.r. tools to cover up the past on I… ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/32 "2025-12-24T00:04:52Z")
What about all the insurectionist? Pardoned. But still felons. Oh, Trump is a multiple fellon too. But those people that tried to overthrow the government have had their lives destroyed. The problem is those idiots will have to turn to other violent crime. Trump let them go… ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/33 "2025-12-24T00:28:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > One such story I remember was that of [Justine Sacco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming#Justine_Sacco_incident)… The wiki clip mentions Jon Ronson, who included her story in his book “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed”. In the book he also relates the tale of Mike Daisey, who got taken down when his monologue about Apple factory workers turned out to be shall we say, less than accurate. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/34 "2025-12-24T00:41:53Z")
Thanks for the cite. In reading that article, it contains a recent screenshot from Gomas’ Instagram account. Which shows she has 160K followers. Two years after her fame-causing meltdown. I don’t know much about how many people set up their Instagram profile to follow some flash-in-the-pan person and then never unfollow them later. Thereby inflating the number of active real followers the flash-in-the-pan person appears to have. Nevertheless, if I had 160K followers, even if half were inactive, I’d sure be interested in monetizing that somehow.\* I’ll also note that in the intervening 2 years Gomas got fake lips, fake breasts, lost some weight, and got trim & tight. She’s been working hard to up her attractiveness game. Probably related to her plans for a celebrity cash-in. * * * \* I sometimes wonder what would have happened if back in 2003 I’d started blogging commercially, not Doping. 3 million words later I might now have a pretty good media franchise going. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/35 "2025-12-24T00:45:36Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > What about all the insurectionist? Pardoned. But still felons. Many have committed other crimes. > **[Insurrectionist Tracker - Democratic Association of Secretaries of State | DASS](https://demsofstate.org/insurrectionist-tracker/)** > > Est. reading time: 1 minute ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/36 "2025-12-24T02:45:42Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > The woman who saw something in the back of the plane leveraged her infamy to start an account on OnlyFans. Another path is with a podcast. If someone has a personality that people are interested in, the attention they get from the video may help launch them into a career path as an internet personality. [Judging by the pic she posted](https://perezhilton.com/crazy-plane-lady-launches-raunchy-of-style-account-viral-fame-bikini-pictures-passes-subscription/) announcing her site, people probably aren’t signing up to learn more about her personality. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/37 "2025-12-24T13:57:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Wait, in 2013, someone thought that being white would protect them from AIDS? Nah, apparently she was mocking the view that she was taking some huge risk by going to Africa but did so in the worst possible stupid joke way (as opposed to “people keep telling me to beware of AIDS. Come on, I’ve grown up in modern Western society, I know how it works”). She was almost immediately held up as a premier case of the hazard of “internet shaming” (later renamed cancel culture) in the sense of reaction rallying at the speed of the net before you have any chance to explain yourself. If anything it goes along with something I’ve heard before: Acting like an ignorant ass IS being an ignorant ass if people can’t tell you’re _acting._ ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/38 "2025-12-24T14:04:58Z")
The interesting thing about the case of Justine Sacco was how it all unfolded while she was offline during the flight. Perhaps if she wasn’t, she might have been able to respond immediately and shut down the outrage. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/39 "2025-12-24T14:58:12Z")
I interpreted her “I’m white” comment as more like “You know I’m not having sex with any … ugggh … _Africans_ while I’m there. So no risk for me.” With “Africans” and “Blacks” being synonymous in her ignorant mind. Still utterly racist, but a different sort of racist. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985/40 "2025-12-24T16:10:29Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > While it is understandable why their company didn’t want anything more to do with them [boss-subordinate relationship], it’s odd that she has problems now. It’s because her Internet infamy is directly tied into her work. > [@furryman](#): > > A friend of mine claims that employers doing an online search of their applicants is SOP. I’d like to believe it’s not true, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. When I was recruiting, I didn’t check the social media of applicants. I was concerned about learning details like race, religion, age, etc., etc., that I didn’t need to know. I knew for a fact some of my hiring managers would look applicants up on their own. These days, our hiring managers don’t have access to applicants names until they’re ready for interview. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viral-rampaging-idiots-being-fired-what-next-for-them/1025985.md?page=3)