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Aug. 26th, 2008 05:11 pm25yr old Mr. Unstable Loses Job at Burger King After Bathing in Kitchen Sink
LA Times Article:
My college professors always warned us to be careful what we publish on the Internet. As it turns out, Timothy Tackett never got that piece of advice.
If he had, he may have thought twice before posting a video to his MySpace page, showing him bathing in his employer's kitchen sink.
In the nearly four-minute video, Tackett, 25, who more famously goes by the alias Mr. Unstable, is seen basking in a sudsy utility sink in the back of the Xenia, Ohio, Burger King where he works. That is, used to work.
Just days after the video was posted, the company fired Tackett and four to five other employees working the graveyard shift, when the unsanitary hijinks was filmed, Tackett said.
Some say it's not unreasonable to assume someone at Burger King might search the Web for clips relating to the restaurant franchise and happen upon Tackett's posting.
Now increase those odds by 868,000 -- about the number of hits so far to the various versions on YouTube. Yes, the footage lives on even after MySpace removed it without Tackett's consent and has even spurred a few parodies, ranging from funny to confusing.
Burger King's reaction to seeing a seemingly nude employee -- even though he was wearing a Speedo, he assures -- bathing in the restaurant's sink, the same one used for washing dishes and utensils, isn't surprising. But Tackett argues the other employees on duty were punished unjustly. "None of these people had anything to do with the situation," he said. "I don't see what anybody could have done." Sadly, all is fair in YouTube and fast food.
Tackett stressed that the utility sink was thoroughly cleaned after his bath and is just as sanitary as most fast food joints -- which may not be saying much. The whole ordeal could have been avoided had the water at his apartment not been shut off that day, leaving him without a place to shower. But what's a guy to do when he needs to get ready for a music performance on his birthday?
Maybe it was fate. Tackett had been incubating a rap career for years, performing under pseudonyms like Ork-0, Dr. Orkgazm and currently Mr. Unstable. This incident provided the 15 minutes of fame he needed to get his name off the ground, and Tackett is hoping to ride the wave to stardom. "I'm trying not to be 'the Burger King guy that bathed in the sink,' " he said.
Tackett was incredibly difficult to reach for this interview, due to a relentless media blitz. In between performing, recording his new album and being interviewed on his local TV news and "radio stations from Florida to Canada," he lost his voice. "If I was a normal person, this would be horrible," he said. "But I do music, and I'm an extravagant guy anyway."
Though Tackett said he regrets the results of his actions and has advised people be careful what they record and post to the Internet, all the attention has provided "a little bit" of a boost to his music career, attracting new MySpace fans from places like Australia and Korea. Plus, he won't have to disassemble fryers at 3 a.m. anymore.
Now his Mr. Unstable music identity has become a sole source of income. "I was paying my bills already with CD money," he said. "But the Burger King money was my spending money, my spare change. It has just put me down where I have nothing extra." He is hoping his unusual style, topped off with a mohawk and rubber-banded hairdo his mother calls a "dreadhawk," and even more unusual music keep his career rolling.
Though Tackett says the bath wasn't a planned publicity stunt -- though it did turn out that way, he admits -- it wasn't completely spur of the moment either. He made sure to hose down the sink before jumping in a potentially unsanitary environment. "I worked on that for like an hour with boiling water," he said. "We cleaned the nasty Burger King stuff."
LA Times Article:
My college professors always warned us to be careful what we publish on the Internet. As it turns out, Timothy Tackett never got that piece of advice.
If he had, he may have thought twice before posting a video to his MySpace page, showing him bathing in his employer's kitchen sink.
In the nearly four-minute video, Tackett, 25, who more famously goes by the alias Mr. Unstable, is seen basking in a sudsy utility sink in the back of the Xenia, Ohio, Burger King where he works. That is, used to work.
Just days after the video was posted, the company fired Tackett and four to five other employees working the graveyard shift, when the unsanitary hijinks was filmed, Tackett said.
Some say it's not unreasonable to assume someone at Burger King might search the Web for clips relating to the restaurant franchise and happen upon Tackett's posting.
Now increase those odds by 868,000 -- about the number of hits so far to the various versions on YouTube. Yes, the footage lives on even after MySpace removed it without Tackett's consent and has even spurred a few parodies, ranging from funny to confusing.
Burger King's reaction to seeing a seemingly nude employee -- even though he was wearing a Speedo, he assures -- bathing in the restaurant's sink, the same one used for washing dishes and utensils, isn't surprising. But Tackett argues the other employees on duty were punished unjustly. "None of these people had anything to do with the situation," he said. "I don't see what anybody could have done." Sadly, all is fair in YouTube and fast food.
Tackett stressed that the utility sink was thoroughly cleaned after his bath and is just as sanitary as most fast food joints -- which may not be saying much. The whole ordeal could have been avoided had the water at his apartment not been shut off that day, leaving him without a place to shower. But what's a guy to do when he needs to get ready for a music performance on his birthday?
Maybe it was fate. Tackett had been incubating a rap career for years, performing under pseudonyms like Ork-0, Dr. Orkgazm and currently Mr. Unstable. This incident provided the 15 minutes of fame he needed to get his name off the ground, and Tackett is hoping to ride the wave to stardom. "I'm trying not to be 'the Burger King guy that bathed in the sink,' " he said.
Tackett was incredibly difficult to reach for this interview, due to a relentless media blitz. In between performing, recording his new album and being interviewed on his local TV news and "radio stations from Florida to Canada," he lost his voice. "If I was a normal person, this would be horrible," he said. "But I do music, and I'm an extravagant guy anyway."
Though Tackett said he regrets the results of his actions and has advised people be careful what they record and post to the Internet, all the attention has provided "a little bit" of a boost to his music career, attracting new MySpace fans from places like Australia and Korea. Plus, he won't have to disassemble fryers at 3 a.m. anymore.
Now his Mr. Unstable music identity has become a sole source of income. "I was paying my bills already with CD money," he said. "But the Burger King money was my spending money, my spare change. It has just put me down where I have nothing extra." He is hoping his unusual style, topped off with a mohawk and rubber-banded hairdo his mother calls a "dreadhawk," and even more unusual music keep his career rolling.
Though Tackett says the bath wasn't a planned publicity stunt -- though it did turn out that way, he admits -- it wasn't completely spur of the moment either. He made sure to hose down the sink before jumping in a potentially unsanitary environment. "I worked on that for like an hour with boiling water," he said. "We cleaned the nasty Burger King stuff."
