A former Army specialist said a school district rescinded a job offer to coach because he was critical of coronavirus restrictions in several social-media posts.
George Kemper told Fox News that, after leaving the military last year, he had been offered a job with his alma mater, Loyola Academy.
In November, he accepted in writing the position as part-time baseball coach at the private, Jesuit school in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
“But come January, they reached out and said that certain posts and political opinions I voiced didn’t reflect well on the school, so they pulled the offer,” Kemper said. “And since then, I was really disappointed about it.”
Kemper said he believes his Facebook posts questioning coronavirus lockdowns were what angered school officials.
In one December post, he wrote: “A message to all those who wasted their Thanksgiving being scared and staying home, we traveled to Florida and back, went shopping, enjoyed the beach, and more without any issues … I urge you to not give into the fear and spend your Christmas in hiding.”
In a November post, Kemper shared an article about California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom violating his own coronavirus restrictions to dine at a fancy Napa Valley restaurant with a large group of lobbyists.
“Further proof that we should stand up to the ‘safety measures’ that are only put in place for us simple folk to follow,” Kemper wrote.
Kemper said he “never got any explanation” from the school as to why it pulled his job offer. The school never even gave him a chance to discuss the decision, he said.
“I didn’t get to defend myself or have a conversation about it,” he said.
“After they called me, I sent a personal letter to the president, the head of the athletic department and head baseball coach explaining my disappointment,” he continued. “I never got a response, and after that I, you know, published the article and started spreading the word about it.”
