Huffington Post: Roy Egan, Former O'Hare TSA Agent, Fired Over Repeated Anti-Muslim, Racist Facebook Remarks
A former O'Hare International Airport baggage screener employed with the Transportation Security Administration has been fired as a result of habitual anti-Muslim, anti-gay, racist comments posted publicly on his Facebook profile.
Roy Egan had worked at the airport for nine years before he was suspended in October after TSA officials reportedly found Egan to be in violation of the agency's policies for employee conduct both on and off job, ABC Chicago reports.
The postings -- consisting of comments and graphic images alike -- on Egan's Facebook page are startling. In addition to anti-gay and anti-Muslim remarks, Egan allegedly posted racist comments about African Americans and Latinos.
"Does anything at all make you smile more than a Muslim burning by his own hateful hand?" Egan reportedly wrote in one post. He describes President Obama as "Muslim-in-chief" in another. He wrote that Attorney General Eric Holder should "die tasting your own blood," according to ABC.
Openly identifying himself as an employee of TSA, his profile included further comments from him stating: "FILTHY MUSLIM," Muslims "need to be exterminated," "BURN ISLAM" and "Islam, a cult that glorifies death," according to the Chicago Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which met with TSA leaders in Chicago to express their concern with the postings.
Though his Facebook page was reportedly locked from public viewing for sometime, it was back online as of Thursday. Egan writes that he was "targeted" by the original ABC story posted last month. He claimed that his comments have been "taken out of context" and wrote that his "personal life is in shambles" and that he had "spent a week in the Hospital." He also described difficulty finding an attorney "with the Guts to fight for the 1st Amendment."
Sharing a conservative blog's post with the headline "Rape epidemic of Norwegian girls direct result of Muslim immigration" early Thursday, Egan commented "...but Im [sic] the Bad Guy for telling you this!!!!"
Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago executive director commended the TSA for Egan's firing.
"We made it clear that Egan's discourse was as much an embarrassment to the agency and the values it stands for, as it was an affront against Muslims and other minorities," Rehab said in a statement. "By the end of the meeting, we felt convinced that the TSA leadership takes such violations of its code of conduct very seriously and that they genuinely set out to do their utmost to ensure that all constituents are treated with fairness and respect."