31-year-old Zachary Poole of Williamsburg, Ohio says he was fired after a video he posted on TikTok was "taken out of context" and shared across multiple social media platforms.
In the video, Poole seemed to threaten violence if presidential candidate Joe Biden were to win the election in November.
"I don't know if a lot of y'all understand this or not, but
come November there's a war coming," Poole says in the video.
But Poole told The Enquirer he didn't mean to threaten violence. His comments in the video, he says, aimed to draw attention to the deep division the country has displayed in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. Whichever party loses, Poole said, will likely protest. If Biden wins, Poole said he and others "will be standing up for our rights."
"And how we would go about doing that is peaceful protesting," Poole said. "We wouldn't be burning streets down, or anything like that. We would stand up for what's right. I'm not looking for no war, I'm not racist, or anything like that. I'm not part of no group or nothing."
Nevertheless, Poole says liberal social media accounts linked him to the Proud Boys,
a far-right group with a history of violent confrontations. Concerned individuals called his employer and even the police.
"I didn't even know what that meant until all this started happening," Poole said. "I didn't even know there was a group called Proud Boys until all this."
Poole said he believes those accusations cost him his job at Arch Materials, LLC, where he said he had been working for about seven months.
"Everybody across the U.S. was calling me in, trying to get me fired," Poole said. "And with them reporting it to my company, they said it was against core values and they fired me."
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On Thursday, Williamsburg Chief of Police Michael Gregory said the case was closed.
"Our department, along with the Cincinnati field office of the FBI, spoke to Mr. Poole about the posting and at this time there is no charges going to be filed," Gregory said.
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Williamsburg Police received at least two complaints about the video, one of which came from a concerned citizen in California, Gregory said. One of the complaints included a link to the video.
"The reason why I say there's a war coming is cuz if Trump wins, Black Lives Matter and all them other Antifa dumbasses are gonna try to start war. We ready, don't worry. We ready, us rednecks and stuff, we ready for y'all. But if Biden wins, we coming, and we coming strong," Poole said in the video.
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"The endorsement of political violence in Mr. Poole’s social media post is contrary to the core values of Arch Materials, LLC and Rogers Group, Inc. Arch Materials and Rogers Group condemn in the strongest possible terms Mr. Poole's encouragement of violence and demand that any media post suggesting otherwise, or in any way connecting Rogers Group or Arch Materials to Mr. Poole’s views be removed," the statement reads.
"Basically it's coming down to where freedom of speech is no longer free," Poole said. "Look what happened. I did freedom of speech and it cost me my job and it cost me my livelihood, and everything."
On top of losing his job, Poole and his wife, 32-year-old Kristin Poole, say they have received death threats online.
"Just talking about it gets me upset," she said. "Because that's not who he is. That's not my husband.
"My husband is the most kindest person that you will ever meet. And if you are a friend of his, he will give you the shirt off his back. And that's who he is. (It) doesn't matter what color you are, it doesn't matter what sexuality you have, it does not matter."
No reports of threats towards the Pooles have been filed in Clermont County court.