June 12, 2020
By Jon King / [email protected]
A well-known local realtor was fired from his position after posting comments on the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.
Rick Beaudin, known to many as The Pinckney Pirate, was fired from ReMax Platinum owner Joe DeKroub on Friday. Beaudin worked as a team leader in the company. DeKroub confirmed the shot when reached by phone but declined to divulge the exact details of the comments. However, he said they were racist in nature and filed several complaints. “Deep down, I don’t think Rick is a racist, but you have to be responsible for the things you say,” DeKroub said.
Beaudin tells WHMI that it was a single comment he made on a protest planned in Pinckney on Friday in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Beaudin says he posted on a Facebook page for a local Pinckney group: “Can’t we all just promote in Pinckney that all life is important?” He says the post was created from his personal Facebook account and was only active for about twenty minutes before it was removed by the page administrator. But Beaudin, who also serves as the board chairman of the Pinckney Putnam Hamburg Hell Chamber of Commerce, says the Black Lives Matter movement contacted ReMax to complain and that was the reason for his firing. “I only said All Lives Matter, but I think that’s politically wrong and you mustn’t say All Lives Matter. But isn’t all life important? I think they do, and so do a lot of people. “
Activists from Black Lives Matter and others say the term “All Lives Matter” devalues their movement because it denies the racist component behind the murder of George Floyd and numerous other black people by a predominantly white law enforcement system that they consider systematically racist .
According to DeKroub, who said he warned Beaudin multiple times not to use the Facebook pages provided by ReMax to engage in behavior deemed harmful to company standards. “We are a real estate company. We cannot be perceived as biased in any way or that we do not fully support fair living. “DeKroub pointed out that Beaudin was not contrite when confronted with the issue. “It’s just got out of hand.”
Beaudin denies that he has been warned multiple times or that the company has Facebook pages. “Joe doesn’t even understand Facebook,” he said. He added: “Nothing has been going on for weeks. Joe is going to Florida for the winter. He just got back in May. I’ve only seen him in group zoom training sessions – nor talked to him. Nobody went to the office because of Covid. “Beaudin also asked why his release was worth news. “People get fired all the time. Why is this new? I’m bleeding Pinckney. So I said, “Why can’t Pinckney promote All Lives Matter?” Beaudin later added, “I apologize if my ALL LIVES MATTER statement was misunderstood by anyone.”
