Council press officer quits after tweeting his local area should be napalmed
A Lambeth Council press officer who tweeted last week that his suggestion to improve the local area would involve napalm has quit his job.
Sam Masters tweeted on his own account “Having spent a considerable amount of time in Streatham, my solutions for supporting the High Road mostly involve napalm.”
The comment led to several complaints, including from local MP Chuka Umunna, with Lee Alley, chair of the Streatham Business Board, saying that he intends to issue an official complaint.
Masters has deleted his Twitter account, quit his job and made this apology: "Clearly they were ill considered, ill advised and very offensive to many.
"For that I would like to apologise. That I didn’t apologise sooner is also of profound regret to me.
"What was supposed to be a silly joke on a social networking website has offended many people, and for that I am genuinely sorry.
"I spent more than four years working everyday in Streatham in my last job.
"Anybody who knew me during that period would, I hope, testify that I worked hard to champion issues that were important to the people who lived there."
What do you think? Was this comment on Masters personal Twitter account – which did not mention where he worked in his bio and said views were not that of his employer – worthy of him quitting?