As usual, me and the rest of the blog chutes are a little behind the local news, and as it turns out
[Fout] was also offended by the way [Dave] Lieber [the writer of the original story] presented the story.
“Obviously the guy slanted the story because in all likelihood he’s a liberal,” Fout said.
“I mean, at the very least he sounds like a Jew.”
Lieber’s story makes it sound as if Fout called police and pressed charges, but Fout said all he wanted was an apology from Godwin.
Fout complained to a manager in the lobby. While doing so, a woman approached him to say she was a physical therapist. She looked at his neck and noticed a knot.
“Before I knew it here comes Emergency Medical Services and police,” Fout said. “The theater management said by law they had to do that.”
But Fout said he never asked police to press charges.
“The police came up and they’d already escorted her out and wrote her a ticket,” he said. “What am I supposed to do, ask the police not to do it? Are they going to listen to me? No. They’re going to do what they want to do.”
Oh I don’t know, maybe you could’ve not complained about your neck after a lady tapped you on the shoulder with a perfectly reasonable request, you big, blubbering vagina. Still, he seems to have charmed this new reporter.
I found Fout to be a blowhard, condescending at times, and difficult to like.
Oh, Dale Fout, you silver tongue! Keep using that world class charm!
Reader comments have been brutal, some even vaguely threatening. Besides calling Fout every name in the book, readers have discouraged people from hiring Fout’s advertising consulting business. Another poster, Joe Guru, revealed Fout’s criminal record from 20 years ago*.
Fout didn’t know any of this when I called him today to ask how it felt to be publicly crucified. He’d read the story in the print edition of the paper yesterday morning, chuckled about it, and didn’t pay it much mind afterward. Then, this morning he received an anonymous phone call from an angry man who told him his attitude was deplorable and who vowed to never do business with Fout.
Fout assumed the angry call was prompted by the news article, but he was startled when I told him hundreds of others were saying worse things about him in online comments. He pulled up the web version and began reading the comments while we were still on the phone.
The real wimps, Fout said, are the people who believe everything they read and make anonymous statements online without knowing the real story. If anybody wants to come say some of that stuff to his face and threaten him, they’re welcome, “but when you’re sipping through a straw for a month because you’re jaw is broke, don’t blame me,” he said. “I take care of business.”
“These trolls are just jealous because they were at home with their ugly wives and pimply gnome kids while I was out watching Transformers 3 in 3D and text messaging with hot babes. They wouldn’t print this garbage if they knew my dad owns a dealership. Have I mentioned I played football?”
He doubts anybody will confront him face to face.
“If I was in front of them they’d probably pee and crap their drawers,” he said. “It goes to show you what a bunch of idiots there are in the world. They’re idiots because they don’t know the whole story. I’ll tell every one of them to their face they’re an idiot. The woman put her hand on me and pushed me.”
As for the anonymous commenter who revealed his criminal background, Fout said he will recruit a computer expert he knows to figure out the commenter’s personal information. Then Fout will talk to a lawyer about suing the guy. He asked me if I thought he had a case. I told him no, since criminal convictions are public record. [FortWorthWeekly]
“None of these trolls have the balls to say it to my face. They know I used to play football, and if anyone messes with me, I’m not afraid to call a lawyer. I’ll threaten a lawsuit on any chick half my size so fast you’ll lose bowel control. I take care of business.” (*spits Skoal in empty Gatorade bottle, leans back on Chevy Avalanche hitch, puts on Oakleys*)
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*”Fout said both of his convictions from the late 1980s — one for assault, one for injury to an elderly person — were misunderstandings. He tried to explain them during our 45-minute phone conversation but the stories were complicated, convoluted, and rife with finger pointing and tales of a corrupt legal system. Suffice it to say that he felt wrongly convicted. Both incidents occurred long ago when he was in his 20s and was too poor to afford an attorney and therefore got railroaded, he said.”