If you are a public figure, it is your (really, your manager's or agent's) responsibility to manage your image. An important part of that is deciding which eng

If you are a public figure, it is your (really, your manager's or agent's) responsibility to manage your image. An important part of that is deciding which engagements are good opportunities for you and which are not. It is also your own responsibility to be prepared for an engagement to go poorly -- unexpected/negative questions, hecklers, etc -- and have a plan in place for how to respond to that. If you're not willing or able to do these things, you should decline invitations like this and live privately. Or at the very least, don't complain when you don't get the result you were hoping for when you accepted. I think it's pretty forseeable that an AMA would likely result in a lot of uncomfortable questions for a highly controversial figure like Rev. Jackson. That can be an opportunity, or it can be a disaster. It does not seem that he was properly prepared for it either way. That's not Reddit's fault nor Chooter's; it's his. All that said, it's clear that Reddit is not a well-managed company, and this appears to have gotten worse since they hired Ellen Pao. So it's certainly possible that the people calling the shots over there don't get it, or are trying to reimagine Reddit as something it is not. If that's so, then your theory is entirely plausible. But it still doesn't explain the lack of communication or any semblance of a backup plan. If you're employing someone who has no alternate, and you have no plan in place to transfer that person's duties, the only reason to fire that person on the spot is that they're committing felonies directly related to the company or its business. Anything else -- and I do mean anything else; I don't care if they took a giant shit right on your desk -- can wait 24 business hours while you get some kind of continuity plan in place. As a manager, if you can't control your own anger or impetuousness well enough to avoid torpedoing your own business out of spite, you don't belong in your role. Ellen Pao, we're looking at you.