{"id":29731,"date":"2020-03-21T21:54:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T21:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/21\/army-employee-fired-for-insensitive-post-about-coronavirus-outbreak\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:38:44","slug":"army-employee-fired-for-insensitive-post-about-coronavirus-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/your-career\/2020\/03\/21\/army-employee-fired-for-insensitive-post-about-coronavirus-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Army employee fired for insensitive post about coronavirus outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Army officials fired a social media manager on Saturday for an Instagram post related to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak<\/a> that critics \u2014 including at least one member on Congress \u2014 blasted as offensive and racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post, part of a series of questions and answers on the virus, was up on the Army\u2019s official social media account<\/a> for several hours before being deleted. Under the posted question \u201cwhy did a man eat a bat,\u201d Army officials wrote \u201cit wasn\u2019t because he was thirsty\u201d with a picture of a man shrugging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comment appears to reference rumors that the coronavirus originated from someone eating a bat in China<\/a>, an assertion that scientists have not confirmed. But the idea has provided fodder for culturally insensitive jokes and ethic blaming for the fast-moving illness, which has already killed nearly 13,000 people worldwide (more than 200 in the United States).<\/p>\n\n\n\t