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Best Buy Extends Olive Branch to Viral Video Maker, Guy Says 'No Way'

by Amar Toor on July 7, 2010 at 12:31 PM

iPhone vs Evo parodyJust a few days after threatening to fire employee Brian Maupin because of a couple of videos he'd posted on YouTube, Best Buy has extended the olive branch. But Maupin is refusing to grab it.

In a statement, Best Buy declared, "Our investigation is over, and these videos are no longer on the Web. Contrary to rumors, Brian has not been fired, and is scheduled to return to his job at Best Buy this Friday." Brian, however, isn't ready to bury the hatchet. "Right now I'm planning on taking a leave of absence so I may survey my current career plans and the future," he said, also in a statement. "I'm not sure if it would be comfortable returning to Best Buy considering the circumstances, but I will definitely consider all options."

The employee took on a more candid tone when speaking to TechCrunch, and suggested that Best Buy's "investigation" may have been accompanied by some aggressive, behind-the-scenes tactics. "Honestly, I don't know how I could return considering some of the things that were said to me and not have a lot of awkwardness on the job," Maupin explains.

What makes Best Buy's turnaround so curious, though, is the fact that it has subtly changed the entire story. Initially, the company took issue with two of Brian's videos that satirized iPhone 4 and Evo users, both of which have already garnered a combined 4 million views. Although those clips never once mention the Best Buy name, Brian had previously posted three other (less popular) videos that did. He promptly removed those three upon request. Now, Best Buy is claiming that it never really cared about the two satirical chef d'oeuvres in the first place, and that it was only concerned about the troika of clips that were "openly disparaging of our employees, our customers and our vendor partners."

At some point, the electronics chain must've realized that there weren't justifiable grounds upon which it could force Maupin to remove his iPhone-Evo satires, and, in a desperate attempt to save face, pulled off this awkward about-face. But, considering Brian's reaction to the proposed offer of reinstatement, it seems like the damage has already been done. We don't blame him for wanting to get away from a workplace that has apparently turned hostile. If he does in fact bid adieu to the tech retailer, we wish him the best of luck in his new career path as -- in Best Buy's condescending words -- "an aspiring filmmaker." [From: TechCrunch]

Tags: BestBuy, BrianMaupin, employment, Evo, fired, htc evo, HtcEvo, iphone, iphone4, top, video, viralvideo, youtube

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