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Man fired over obscene Chrysler tweet is sorry

A Chrysler contractor who posted an obscene tweet on the Chrysler brand's official account says he's sorry his four-letter flub has cost his firm the account and him his job.
/ Source: The Associated Press

A Chrysler contractor who posted an obscene tweet on the Chrysler brand's official account says he's sorry his four-letter flub has cost his firm the account and him his job.

Scott Bartosiewicz's Twitter posting from last week read: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive." It was meant to appear on his personal account, but Bartosiewicz mistakenly sent it to the Chrysler brand's feed while he was stuck in traffic on Interstate 696.

The error resulted in the 28-year-old Ferndale resident's dismissal and contributed to Chrysler's decision not to renew its contract with Bartosiewicz's employer, New Media Strategies, a Virginia-based marketing firm.

"As a Detroiter, it was cool to know the work I was doing was part of this larger comeback for Detroit and the Big Three," Bartosiewicz told the Detroit Free Press. "I poured all my heart and soul into that. It's unfortunate it's all being overshadowed by 140 characters."

Bartosiewicz, a University of Michigan MBA student, blamed the mistake on a mix-up using a program that aims to help users juggle multiple Twitter accounts.

"I've tweeted and posted on Facebook thousands of time before," he said.

Chrysler said it did what was necessary and has moved on.

"The company has invested greatly, not only financially, but philosophically ... in supporting Detroit and the U.S. auto industry, and we simply couldn't tolerate any messaging — whether or not there was an obscenity — that was denigrating to Detroit," company spokesman Ed Garsten said.

Bartosiewicz said he understands the automaker's position.

"This brought a large amount of visibility to (Chrysler's) brand and to their company that they didn't want or ask for," he told WXYZ-TV. "And unfortunately somebody has to pay for that, and I don't think they can be blamed for that."

New Media Strategies spokeswoman Lyndsey Medsker said Thursday no decisions have been made on the future of the 20 or so employees in Michigan and Virginia who worked on the Chrysler account.

"In fact, it may very well be that we are able to reassign people to other accounts," she said.

Regardless, Medsker said, "New Media Strategies remains committed to Detroit and are big believers in the city's comeback."