Michael Tunison writes under the pseudonym Christmas Ape at the blog Kissing Suzy Kolber. He also writes under his own name at the Washington Post.
Or at least he did, until he was fired by the Post for what he's written at the blog. Tunison says the Post told him he violated Post standards and discredited the paper by writing a blog post in which he identified himself as a Washington Post writer, linked to the paper three times, included a photo of himself drunk (above) and used profanity. I e-mailed an assistant managing editor at the Post for his side of the story; he replied to the e-mail but did not give any substantive response.
Getting fired from your "real job" for what you write on your blog is hardly unprecedented, although I don't recall it happening in such a high-profile place in sports. The Post is, obviously, one of America's most respected newspapers, and Kissing Suzy Kolber is among the most popular NFL blogs on the Internet. Tunison says at KSK that he can make the same income he was getting at the Post by writing for KSK, and that may be the real lesson here: If you're going to get fired for your blog, make sure your blog is popular enough that you can make money off it.
UPDATE: Post Assistant Managing Editor for Metropolitan News Robert McCartney tells me via e-mail: "MIchael Tunison has resigned from The Washington Post. I will not have further comment, as this is an individual personnel matter."
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. If this leads Michael to turning into an actual Christmas Ape, it's a net plus for the planet.
Michael Tunison is dead, long live Christmas Ape.
Posted at 11:05AM on Apr 17th 2008 by Tom
2. Not the best way to use a talented staff member.
Posted at 11:07AM on Apr 17th 2008 by JCN
3. Yeah, the WaPo can't be allowing their staff members to cavort with parrots. Screaming silly stuff on ESPN is just fine, however.
Clenched fist up for Michael/Xmas Ape.
Posted at 11:38AM on Apr 17th 2008 by Stephanie Stradley
4. Go here for the dorky-but-best-the-internet-can-do protest in the comment thread:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/04/bizarre_olympic_dreams.html
Posted at 1:02PM on Apr 17th 2008 by August West
5. The folks at KSK seem to still think he was fired. Can we get some journalistic investigation going on here?
Posted at 1:42PM on Apr 17th 2008 by Will
6. Ah, Steelers fans. If only he was wearing one of those goofy yellow Steelers hardhats.
Posted at 1:58PM on Apr 17th 2008 by Harrison
7. @JCN
what about his talented staff member?
Posted at 3:43PM on Apr 17th 2008 by mrhammerstein
8. The Washington Post didn't handle this particularly well. From what I can tell though, this guy seems to be pretty irresponsible, and his writing doesn't seem to warrant giving him any special treatment. I would not be surprised if he did put himself into a position where his resignation was forced. I'll stick with PFT.
Posted at 7:11PM on Apr 17th 2008 by Nathan
9. The folks at KSK would be correct, since he was the one that reported his own firing. Clearly the Post was saying what they did to try and save face.
Posted at 9:36AM on Apr 18th 2008 by OD
10. #6 Harrison, You had better not be my great nephew disparaging the Steelers hat like that. Your a little Browns fan just like your Mom.
Posted at 4:59PM on Apr 18th 2008 by Regis
11. His Christmas Ape crap was easily the worst written blog on KSK. He needs to write for a frat house newsletter and he'd probably be fired from that too.
F this, F that....F you ape.
Posted at 10:29PM on Apr 18th 2008 by Scott