FARGO — The director of Magnitude Sports Media Network, a local company that primarily streams local high school and youth sports, apologized on Monday for a Facebook post that had references to “mass shooting” and general violence.
Mike Mason said he had a “bad night” in reacting to demonstrations and confrontations in downtown Fargo on Saturday night. The protests were part of a nationwide movement in dealing with racism in the wake of the death of George Floyd after being held in police custody in Minneapolis.
In one of his Facebook posts, Mason described how he had to detour around three protesting groups while driving from West Fargo to north Fargo and two groups on the way back.
“If I’m in the news in a couple days because I did a mass shooting,” he wrote. “Just know that I sacrificed my freedom for your safety.”
Asked about the words “mass shooting” in a Facebook post, Mason said on Monday, “I didn’t mean it and I’m not that type of person.”
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Magnitude Sports lists a comprehensive schedule on its websites from high school basketball and hockey games with Fargo Davies, Fargo North and Fargo South to airing many Minnesota smaller-town high school events. Todd Olson, the athletic director for the Fargo Public Schools said, “We have no comment on a non-employees’ Facebook page.”
Jay DeCann, the activities director at West Fargo High School, took a similar approach.
“At this time we are not going to comment on a non-West Fargo Public Schools employee social media account,” he said.
This spring, Magnitude Sports did high school graduations in Enderlin, Milnor, Wahpeton of North Dakota and Breckenridge in Minnesota. From 2016, it lists more than 700 events available on replay.
Mason said he’s had reactions varying from “people harrass me” to a couple of others who “were nice about it.”
“I’m just going to be honest, I had a bad night,” he said. “I was a little bit shaken up by what happened on that particular night. I later deleted it and apologized to anybody who was offended by it. … I just want this to be squashed. If they want to reach out for a one-on-one conversation, that’s cool. People say dumb things sometimes, they make mistakes and I was one of them and I apologized. Some people accept that apology and some people won’t and that’s fine with me. I’m not that type of person and I’m just keeping my head up high and moving forward. I know I made a mistake and I’m over it now.”
