Burger King VP exposed as troll

Burger King Vice President exposed for online dirty tricks.

Background: A Florida farmworker organization (the Coalition of Immokalee Workers) has been appealing to Burger King to follow the example of Taco Bell and McDonalds and agree to pay one penny more per pound of tomatoes to the farmworkers that pick them.

In response Steven Grover, a Burger King Vice President, has been anonymously trolling against the grassroots farmworker organization:

Yet often during the past year, when articles or videos about the coalition were posted on YouTube and various Internet news sites, someone using the online names activist2008 or surfxaholic36 would attach comments coalition member Greg Asbed has called "libelous."

This one, from surfxaholic36, is representative: "The CIW is an attack organization lining the leaders pockets ... They make up issues and collect money from dupes that believe their story. To (sic) bad the people protesting don't have a clue regarding the facts. A bunch of fools!"

It turns out that Gover's own daughter exposed him:

Although Shannon Grover also uses the name surfxaholic36 - mostly on social networking sites - she said the anti-coalition posts are her father's alone.

"I don't really know much about the coalition and Burger King stuff," she said, reached by phone at the family's Miramar home Friday. "That was my dad. My dad used to go online with that name and write about them."

Asked if she'd ever written about the coalition online, she was adamant: "No, that was my Dad. That was him."

Here's a response from the farmworkers:

"This is truly disturbing," said coalition member Gerardo Reyes. "It's one thing to imagine that there's some kind of anonymous Internet stalker out there obsessively tracking every story about the CIW, posting these vicious lies about us and calling us things like 'the lowest form of life' and 'blood suckers,'" Reyes said. "I mean, we're a farmworker community fighting slavery and trying to get a fair wage for the work we do."

The bigger question, Reyes said, is this: "When you realize the person posting those things is actually Burger King's vice president in charge of the ethical operation of the company's supply chain, it really makes you wonder just how high up does this whole thing go? Does Burger King, as a company, approve of this sort of behavior? If not, we'd expect to see some changes now that this has come to light."

Here's the original article: Burger King VP puts self on grill

Disgusted by Burger King's behavior?  Join 75,000 Americans and sign the petition supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

•  What a moron. How much does he make?

  What, probably 20 million a year?  The United States of Meritocrisy!  HAHAHAHAHAHA!  What a jerk-off!

  by realwischeese on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:08:55 AM PDT

•  Fine, I'll fess up

  I'm Hillary Clinton

  by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:09:10 AM PDT

  •  And I'm George Clooney

    Do I look fat in this dress?

    by earicicle on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:15:32 AM PDT

    •  I'm Spartacus.

      by Choom Gang Vets for Truth on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:59:25 AM PDT

      •  I'm Brian, and so's my wife!

        by Sura 109 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 12:26:47 PM PDT

  •  Lose the pantsuits

    Everyone just makes fun of them!

    by egarratt on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:43:18 AM PDT

    •  I can't, it's a symbiote, like Venom

      from the Spiderman Comics.

      by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:47:55 AM PDT

•  Burger King?

  Ucky!

  by crose on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:12:07 AM PDT

  •  Yep. Wanna really hurt BK.

    Stop eating meat. Stop drinking pop. Grow your own veggies and bake your own bread. Fast food has destroyed this country.

    by psilocynic on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:18:07 AM PDT

    •  Well, I don't drink pop.

      I certainly don't eat at BK. I do bake my own bread but it is too good and I eat it all the day I bake it, with organic butter and honey. And unfortunately, my riverbottom silt, with all of the rocks, makes lousy garden soil. You should see the corn I have "grown". Raised beds are the only way to go.

      by crose on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:22:54 AM PDT

      •  you are so

        midwestern!!  I don't drink "POP" either!!  I hate DC and all its "SODA" drinking elitists!!

        And Down with BK!  1 penny more per pound and you're having an issue?  BK, you suck!!

        by Bendygirl on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 01:03:55 PM PDT

        •  Tee-hee!

          I don't drink "pop", but I drink lots and lots of "soda"--soda water that is. Sometimes I drink it with a chunk of lime or lemon, or a glug of some exotic juice, but mostly I drink it as part of my daily "power coffee":

          1 pound (yeah right! Anyone notice that coffee doesn't come by the pound anymore?) organic, fair trade, shade-grown coffee
          Dump this in one of those funnel-style concentrate makers, the ones with a little rubber plug and a felt filter. Fill to the top with cold water, slowly allowing the top grounds to become wet. Let this brew for several hours, preferably overnight. Then pull the stopper while holding the funnel over a pitcher and set the funnel down onto the pitcher to drain. If your coffeecomes pre-ground, there may be fine grounds that plug the filter--just scoop this silt off  with a spoon as the coffee concentrate drains. Okay, now you have very smooth, very clear, very delicious coffee concentrate that you can use straight as strong brew, dilute with water and heat for a single cup, pour over ice with half & half and organic sugar or my fave--POWER COFFEE:
          freeze your favorite long pint glass in the freezer. I keep three in my freezer at a time. When icily frozen and frosty, pour into it a can of cold soda water or selzer. Add coffee concentrate to taste and top with your choice of cow or soy-based whitener and sweetener. Recycle the can!

          by crose on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 06:39:52 PM PDT

    •  I just started a garden.

      I think you'll get your wish with food prices being the way they are.

      We'll all be vegans pretty soon.

      by baltogeek on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:27:39 AM PDT

•  what do they call trolls in Paris?

  I don't know, I've never went to Burger King

  by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:17:35 AM PDT

  •  Le Freepeur! n/t

    by Chrisfs on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:24:46 AM PDT

•  Burger King sucks anyway

  Eat at home it's healthier.

  by born socialist on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:17:37 AM PDT

  •  It always gave me heartburn.

    Eventually, I figured out that it was stupid to pay to get heartburn and stopped eating there.

    by bablhous on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:17:55 AM PDT

•  Burger King Vice President is an oxymoron

  Shouldn't it be Burger Prince or something?  Burger Earl??

  by jakester on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:18:08 AM PDT

  •  very nice

    you know what they put on fries at burger king?

    Mayonnaise

    by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:19:02 AM PDT

•  I wonder if Lou Dobbs eats at BK?

  It sure would go a long way towards explaining some of his "whoppers".

  by cn4st4datrees on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:19:51 AM PDT

  •  Lou Dobbs does not eat

    he sustains himself on the power of raw bigotry

    by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:23:22 AM PDT

    •  Yeah. That's nutritional, ain't it? eom

      by cn4st4datrees on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:24:02 AM PDT

•  Which is worse

  Going on forums and calling migrant workers and their organizers "fools" and "the lowest form of life"
  OR
  using your daughter's online handle to do it!!!!

  by Chrisfs on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:21:12 AM PDT

  •  Oh what tangle webs we weave,

    when first we practice to deceive.

    Assuming this story is legit (and the links certainly support it) I hope this cretin gets his meat handed to him in a trash bag.  He's earned his crown.

    by cn4st4datrees on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:27:19 AM PDT

•  That does it!!! I'm never eating at

  Burger King again, goddammit!!!!!

  ::finger aside chin in thinking gesture::

  Wait a minute, I haven't eaten at a Burger King in ... ten years, and then only because my son wanted whatever stupid toy they were advertising in their kiddie meals.

  Haven't eaten beef since 1990.

  But, seriously, I will avoid even getting a drink there in the future.

  I suppose most people on this blog know that, if you really find yourself in a position where you must eat fast food, Arby's is the most politically appropriate chain.

  Local little places better, of course....

  Avoid Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Domino's Pizza at all costs... very republican places.

  by nicejoest on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:28:19 AM PDT

  •  Redstate Lobster, Olivo Garden

    Dominionist Pizza. Check

    by Mr Bula on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:29:29 AM PDT

    •  Olive Pit

      That's what we call it our house.

      by Catte Nappe on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:46:25 AM PDT

  •  Local burger places!

    We are fortunate enough to have a local burger place around here. Oscar's. Not a chain, three guys and a grill. Grill is right in the front, you can see him grill the burgers right there. Fries or onion rings.

    by Chrisfs on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:33:27 AM PDT

•  i've always thought

  that king character they have was a tad trollish. creepy too

  by terrypinder on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:48:17 AM PDT

•  His buns should be toasted.

  Sorry.

  by boran2 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:49:48 AM PDT

•  Post a tip jar!

  I already signed the petition after reading TomP's excellent diary on this.

  This trolling by the Bk Vp is just... well... pathetic. Absolutely pathetic.

  by discocarp on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 10:52:32 AM PDT

•  tip jar

  Thanks!

  by jawbox on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:04:30 AM PDT

•  Uh Oh - someone's going to be grounded

  Too bad it's not the Dad.

  by Ammo Hauler on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:11:22 AM PDT

•  Burger King's VP in charge of "ethical"

  hiding behind a little girl to post online.

  I assume they use a GOP definition of "ethical".

  by alizard on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 04:21:59 PM PDT