Oromocto — Facebook was in a frenzy this past weekend as one Manatee reader was incensed to stumble upon an article that made light of something that may or may not have directly affected her.
Suzanne Spencer, of Oromocto, said she is usually delighted to see The Manatee articles on her timeline, so long as the satirical newspaper’s article is making light of unfortunate events that happened to someone else, and not someone in her social circle or community.
Last week, one of the The Manatee articles began poking fun at Oromocto, and for Spencer, that was the tipping point. She voiced her opinion on the Manatee Facebook page by taking a deep breath and typing: “I usually enjoy your articles, but this one went too far. Shame on you.” She later stated that the article “had a poor taste” which prompted editors to stress that readers shouldn’t try and eat the articles.
Spencer continued by threatening that she would be unfollowing The Manatee if they refused to take down the post about Oromocto.
Earlier this morning, we were able to reach out to her for further comments:
“I just think that some things shouldn’t be joked about,” Spencer fumed.
“I usually love reading the articles and having a laugh at the expense of some other person or town in New Brunswick that I’m not familiar with, but if you’re going to start making jokes about things that are close to me, that’s where I draw the line. That’s just in poor taste. Not funny at all.”
Later, after hours of deliberation in the Manatee Situation Room, the powers that be decided that, despite Spencer’s threats, they would take the loss of one Facebook follower rather than remove the post.