After a spate of tweets in support of a hockey agent's stand against gay marriage, Rogers Sportsnet moved Wednesday to fire on-air host Damian Goddard.

Sportsnet suggested in a release that their problems with Goddard did not start with his decision to share his political views online.

“Mr. Goddard was a freelance contractor and in recent weeks it had become clear that he is not the right fit for our organization,” the sports broadcaster's communications director, Dave Rashford, said in a short statement.

The decision to let Goddard go from his hosting job was made last week, sources said. If that's the case, we may be witnessing a new employment phenomenon: career suicide via social media.

“In terms of what I said, I stand by it,” Goddard told the Star's Allison Cross at the door to his Oakville home on Wednesday evening.

“I'm a devout Roman Catholic. It's not about hate at all.”

Asked if his dismissal was the result of a misunderstanding, Goddard said, “The truth will come out.”

Goddard tweeted Tuesday in support of Burlington hockey agent Todd Reynolds. Reynolds made waves after he called out New York Ranger player Sean Avery for filming a TV ad in support of gay marriage, describing the player's position as “very sad” and “wrong.” Reynolds was raked online for his position.

“I completely and wholeheartedly support Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage,” Goddard nevertheless tweeted a day after the fact. He also invoked the name of Peter Vidmar, the former U.S. Olympic chief of mission who was forced to resign after his own stand against gay marriage was revealed.

Though Goddard's feed is not well followed, he immediately came under attack. Hours later, Sportsnet was forced to react on its main Twitter feed. It ran several replies to angry viewers repeating the same formula: “Today's tweet from Damian Goddard does not reflect the views of Rogers Sportsnet.”

That seemed a pretty clear shot across the bow, but Goddard didn't get the message. On Tuesday evening, he was still riling up his online critics.

“gonna spend some time with the wife now. to be clear, damian goddard's tweets reflect the views of damian goddard. peace, folks!”

In possibly related news, Goddard's personal website carries a banner quote: “It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.”

By Wednesday morning, Sportsnet cut ties with the now former host of their program Connected. Goddard has worked for more than a decade as an on-air reporter and host for various sports news organizations.

The lesson to be learned from his fall is twofold: 1) Think before you tweet. 2) Read No. 1 again.

Unless of course, baiting your employer into a reaction was the whole point.

Twitter is only five years old. It didn't begin to catch on with athletes and media figures until a couple of years ago. It's only become de rigueur for anyone looking for an audience within the last year.

The 140-character messaging service's ostensible purpose is to allow people to post short thoughts and links that can be accessed by anyone on the Internet. Its secondary purpose is to give the careless and/or clueless a vehicle for public humiliation.

In recent months, we've seen professional athletes take to Twitter in order to a) commentate from their ringside seat at a cockfight; b) rip God after dropping a game-winning pass; c) connect Pearl Harbor and the Japanese tsunami.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Last week, Pittsburgh Steeler Rashard Mendenhall was excoriated when he used Twitter to express sadness about the American reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden and, more worryingly, air a few of his 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Athletes, being athletes, rarely receive any real punishment for their off-the-cuff nonsense. Evidently, freelance TV hosts don't enjoy the same immunity.

With files from Allison Cross

Read more about: