Rich Dewberry of Denver claims a Best
Buy employee outed him as gay on Facebook after he returned a
cellphone to the electronics giant.
“It's totally not a joke,” Dewberry
told 7News Denver. “It just put a bad taste in my mouth.”
Dewberry, who is straight, said the
trouble started when he took his cellphone to the retailer to have it
repaired. Minutes after his phone was replaced with a new one, a
status update was posted from his mobile phone on his Facebook page.
“I am gay, I'm coming out,” the
April 5 post read.
“The phone just started ringing
constantly after that, from ex-spouse to friends,” Dewberry said,
adding that he was “humiliated” by the experience and that his
reputation was “tarnished.”
Dewberry said his phone was logged into
Facebook when he handed it over to the store clerk.
He filed a complaint with the store and
was told the employee involved was fired. However, Best Buy would
neither confirm nor deny that to the television station. (A video
report is embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit
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