Fox Columnist Fired For Reviewing Leaked Wolverine Gets New Job

Roger Friedman should NOT have been fired from Fox over publishing a review of the leaked version of Wolverine. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

I have said and will always say… Pirating movies is stealing. There is no debate. Any attempt to try to argue otherwise is just delusional self justification. You’re taking something without permission and without paying for it. It’s stealing. But, even though it is stealing, I have always hated how the MPAA treats everyone like criminals… threaten lawsuits and suing teenagers… basically I hate the methods employed by the MPAA to enforce anti-piracy laws even though I agree people shouldn’t be downloading movies illegally.

With all that being said, most of you will remember that a little while ago there was a major leak of the new Wolverine movie online long before its release in theaters. One Fox columnist (the aforementioned Roger Friedman) decided to write a review of the leaked movie (how stupid was that?!?!?!) Basically admitting to the world he downloaded a pirated film, a film that belonged to his employers (FOX).

There was an outcry from people that he should be fired. And while I agree that he did something REALLY REALLY REALLY stupid, I don’t think you take a guy’s job away from him just for that. I think you punish him, maybe suspend him, fine him, whatever… but taking a person’s job away is a serious serious matter in today’s world and I firmly believe firing him over one (although stupid) mistake was uncalled for and highly reactionary.

But life has a way of correcting itself, and Roger Friedman has landed a new job over at the Hollywood Reporter to cover celebrity news… and I’m glad he did.

Look, he didn’t leak the movie online. He didn’t drive drunk. He didn’t sexually harass anyone. He didn’t snort coke. He didn’t assault anyone…. he watched a downloaded movie and was stupid enough to review it. Hardly worth taking away a man’s living. Just don’t do it again Roger.

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37 thoughts on “Fox Columnist Fired For Reviewing Leaked Wolverine Gets New Job

  1. I would have just cut his payback. However, this is more of a warning to other employees at Fox and other companies. It was very wrong of Fox to fire, but he was basically a scapegoat. They just wanted to scare other people so they wouldn’t do the same thing. Of course I’m not surprised that he was fired. Fox is the most heartless out of the big 5. That was still a dick move on Fox’s part.

  2. Angela, he gave a bad review of the movie, if the review was good, they wouldn’t fire him. And i don’t think people who download movies need encouragment from some guy at fox.

  3. Ah, there you go again with your “piracy is stealing” shenanigans. No, piracy is piracy. Stealing is stealing. Two very separate thing. Yes, both are wrong. But both are different things.

  4. Wasn’t the whole point was that he told where to get it and that if he could he would download a whole bunch? It’s an integrity issue. Does this person represent the opinon to the public? No? Then why keep him when he’s encouraging pirating. Back to your pen, you take a pen and then encourage everyone else to take one eventually leading to lost money. One pen yes, encouraging others to do it, no.

  5. He is meant to be a professional movie critic and he downloaded a movie illegally and then reviewed an unfinished film.

    Just for the complete idiocy of it and the complete lack of professionalism and advocating piracy in todays world he deserved to be fired.

    there is absolutely no argument to be made for anything other than his dismissal.

  6. They were right in firing him. Not only did he steal a movie from the parent company he works for (and distribute it by downloading through a torrent) but he also advocated illegal downloading by saying how easy it was and that he was should probably download another new film that he didn’t have time to go to.
    They set an example and he was stupid enough to be the one to get that honor.

  7. I think that the studio should feel good about someone stealing ‘Wolverine’ because that movie was crap. I wouldn’t steal that film if someone paid me to.

  8. To me the analogy would be: Someone robbing a million dollars from a bank. They flee the scene, but in their wake a few dollars get left on the side of the street that they drove down. I’m walking down the street, see a 20 dollar bill. Should I take it or not? I decide to pick it up. I didn’t steal it; it is just laying there. I take it. And I tell everyone I just found 20 dollars on the street. I get fired from my job.

  9. John, your logic is astounding!

    You say he stole the movie. You say he shouldn’t be fired. You also say in one of these little comments that you feel if he had stolen a million dollars, he should have been fired.

    He did. He stole a copy of the movie, wrote a negative review about it, and probably stopped a decent amount of people from watching it.

    Not only did he steal from the company he works for (shut up about the pen already), but he then decided to slander said companies product before the consumer even had the opportunity to decide for themselves.

    Don’t give me that “No one listens to reviews,” crap either. You know that’s BS.

    1. Hey Robert,

      My logic is perfect. If you just want to dismiss my point “shut up about the pen” and not rationally address it, then you can… but my logic is sound.

      Writing a bad review is not wrong, and it’s not “slander” either. Where did you get that from?

      I agree people listen to reviews… but giving reviews, and even bad ones, is fine.

      His NORMAL review would have been out before the movie anyway because media get to see it before it opens… so there goes your arguement.

      Look, i agree it was wrong… BUT… how wrong? I agree it deserved company discipline… I agree. But it did not warrant firing him.

      Just like I agree downloading movies is theft… but I don’t think a kid should be sent o jail for it.

    2. Wolverine made close to $90 mil opening weekend despite the leak and bad word of mouth. Just sayin’ … would the film have made much more than that without a leak, or did the buzz over the leak actually help it in some weird way…?

      (Yotally agree downloading movies is wrong, just saying that the studio execs can’t plead poverty over the biggest opening of the year, either.)

    3. Plus, if anything, the leaked movie probably made them more money as it was a bunch of free advertisement regardless of this guys bad review. Whether or not people downloaded and watched the pirated version, the news was all over the place. That advertisement made to places that normal advertisement may not have gotten. While at the same time, people that were not planning to see it may have gone to see it just to see what all the fuss was about on a pirated leaked movie.

    1. Hey Slushie,

      Once again… yes he stole. But if he stole a pen from the company desk… does that warrant firing him too? It’s also stealing isn’t it?

      So all wrongs warrant the exact same punishment?

      He downloaded a movie. Wrong? Yes. Deserve company discipline? Yes to a degree. Fire him? No way.

  10. John,

    Above you state that downloading a pirated movie is theft and any argument against it is “delusional self justification” (which I totally agree with). Later, though, you say that you don’t think Friedman should have been fired, even though he, under the definition you provided for pirating films, stole from his own company. Isn’t that just delusional justification on your part? I really don’t understand how you are rationalizing this, honestly. No employee in the world ever thinks “hopefully I’ll only get a slap on the wrist” as they are taking money from their bosses wallet, and no company in the world would give them a slap on the wrist. They’d drop ’em like a hot potato.

    By the way, I think Rodney has been stealing from you’re wallet.

    Just joshin,’ Rodney!

    1. Yes… it’s theft. But taking a pen home from work is also stealing… but worth getting fired over???

      I agree he should have been reprimanded… maybe fined or suspended… but firing a person… taking their job away… their means of paying the rent and the bills and feeding themselves… especially in these economic times was unjustified in my opinon.

      He’s not the one who put the movie online… he downloaded and watched it. Stupid? Yes. Stealing? Yes. Severe enough to warrant firing him? No.

    2. Yes… but downloading a movie is different from taking $1 million dollars from the company safe too.

      Downloading a movie is stealing. But so is taking a pen, and so it taking a million dollars. So which one should the punishment lean towards?

      In my opinion, while not as innocent as taking a pen, it’s more like that than stealing a million dollars. Punish him, fine him, suspend him, reprimand him… but don’t fire him over it.

    3. John,

      If you owned a video rental store and caught your employee stealing DVDs from you, what would you do. Personally, I would fire them, even in these harsh economic times. If you are paying someone money, money that they should be greatfull for, money that does pay their bills and puts food on their plate, then they go out and steal your product on top of that……. I’m sorry, they should have know better.

    4. Hey Matt S,

      If he stole a pen? No, I wouldn’t fire him.

      If he stole $5 once from the counter, no I wouldn’t fire him

      If he took one crappy movie from my store ONCE after working at my store faithfully for 4 years, No, I wouldn’t fire him

      I’d reprimand him for certain, maybe doc his pay for a week or suspend him… but not fire him.

      He steals $1000 from my till or assaults another female employee of mine, then yes I’d certainly fire him.

      These are all “wrong”. But some things are more severe than others. I’d weigh downloading a movie (not uploading it) closer to stealing $5 form the counter ONCE than I would to assault and firing a guy.

    5. well john sorry to break it to you but in the normal world if u steal from your company you get fired…there usually isnt no exception…i stole a dollar from a cash register to ride the bus home one night and i got fired for it…..company policy

    6. Well… sorry to break it to you bigsampson, but just because it’s something that a company DOES, doesn’t mean it’s what they should do.

      Seriously… how stupid was that of the company? Over $1, they cost themsevles an employee, the time and expense it takes to find and train a replacement and lost the training you already had.

      Over $1.

      Just because it’s “policy” doesn’t mean it’s smart or right.

      Sorry to break it to you.

    7. My wife’s friend worked as a cashier and was fired over stealing a pack of cigarettes. She was employed under the company for almost a decade but there was a strong policy implemented regarding stealing of any kind. Most jobs I worked have a strong policy against company theft and they don’t Fuck around, if you steal be prepared to reap the consequences.

      I agree with Friedman’s termination. Arguably, pirating is a major issue that studios are trying to stem. How’s it look when a studio employee is publicly caught stealing? It’ll appear the studio can’t even keep their own house in order. Maybe if he was caught and none of this went public, I could see him simply getting suspended or fined, but making such a bonehead move as reviewing the leaked copy sealed his fate. Friedman was made into an example which justifies the punishment in my opinion.

  11. He stole from the company and basically encouraged others (thousands of others) to do the same. Don’t fire him though? I guess it’s just a matter of disagreement on how to manage employees.

    1. That’s kind of where I stand on this. Its pretty much company policy with ANY organization that theft is grounds for immediate dismissal. That Fox considers the leaked download theft, I am not all surprised by their actions.

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