NBC Fires Employee For Posting ‘Today’ Clip [VIDEO]

Like  many sites, Cars 108 posted this video back in January.  It's a 1994 clip of NBC's Today Show, in which Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric and Elizabeth Vargas were dumbfounded by "The Internet."  The individual who posted it soon took it down, but that didn't change NBC's decision to fire him.  The clip simply illustrated how much has changed in 17 years - Gumbel second-guessed his own use of "at" to verbalize "The 'A' with a ring around it".  ('@')  Clearly, we were laughing with them, not laughing at them!

According to TechDirt, NBC doesn't see it that way:

The guy doesn't want to talk about it beyond that, and NBC doesn't appear too keen on commenting on the whole situation, but, really NBC? Is that company so ridiculously thin-skinned that it can't laugh at itself? Nothing about the use of the video was mean-spirited or harmful to NBC. The video went viral because it's a human interest sort of thing -- a reminder of how quickly the internet went from something people didn't understand at all, to something that's central to so many people's lives.

Even the Today Show itself played the clip, and laughed at how quickly we've adapted to everyday use of the web.  Firing the individual that posted the original video may indicate that NBC brass is as confused today, as Bryant, Katie and Elizabeth were back then.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy