The Florida Bar fired computer technician Kade McLendon on Wednesday. Three days earlier, Miami defensive lineman Damon Wilson II had shared racist and homophobic messages sent to him from McLendon’s Instagram account after the Hurricanes’ double-overtime win over Florida State.
The Bar, Florida’s statewide professional organization of lawyers, announced the decision, and fans who replied to its post backed it. Several of them saved their sharpest words for McLendon’s denial that he sent the messages.
How an Instagram Story Ended in Kade McLendon’s Firing
Saturday, Oct. 17, ended with No. 3 Miami outlasting Florida State 43-35 in double overtime at Hard Rock Stadium. By Sunday, the conversation had moved off the field. Wilson posted a screenshot of the messages to his Instagram story with a caption of his own: “Glimpse into the life of a black student athlete.”
Besides the slurs, the messages included references to enslaved people and threats against Wilson’s family. McLendon is a Florida State graduate, the Miami Herald reported, citing a LinkedIn profile that has since been deleted.
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The Bar spoke publicly on Monday: “The Florida Bar is aware of messages that were possibly sent from an employee’s social media account that contained inappropriate content, and we have started an internal investigation into this matter.”
On Tuesday, it put McLendon on administrative leave and said in a statement to People, “The messages in question are not only ethically and morally reprehensible but also violate our internal social media policy for employees.”
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The leave lasted one day. On Wednesday, the Bar said the investigation was over and explained its decision:
“Those messages were reprehensible and inconsistent with the mission, values, and policies of The Florida Bar. While McLendon denies sending the messages, he did not provide evidence sufficient to demonstrate to The Florida Bar’s satisfaction that his Instagram account had been compromised. As of today, The Florida Bar has terminated McLendon’s employment.”
Fans Back the Florida Bar and Scoff at McLendon’s Denial
Some of the replies focused on how the organization made its decision. For one fan, how the Bar got there mattered as much as where it ended up: “This is how it’s done! They investigated and gave him a chance to prove that it wasn’t him. They went off what they could see vs what ‘they’ always say. How untouchable he must have felt sending that from his personal account. I’m glad he got to learn today!”
Another fan kept the review short: “An appropriate and timely response. Refreshing.”
Another fan boiled the whole episode down to four words: “Actions have consequences, period.”
The Bar’s statement put McLendon’s denial and its own conclusion in a single sentence. Three fans went after the first half of it. One wrote: “Dude denied it … Absolute clown. Genuinely hope he is blackballed for life.”
Another fan started in the same place: “He denied it? … sinister and disgusting. He well deserved to get terminated.”
Late Wednesday night, another fan added: “May his denial haunt him forever.”
Wilson, 21, is in his first season at Miami after two seasons at Georgia and one at Missouri. The Hurricanes moved to No. 1 in the AP poll after beating the Seminoles. Now 6-0 and first in the ACC, they host Pittsburgh on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.