WASHINGTON – A woman cyclist, who gave middle finger gesture to US President Donald Trump’s motorcade in October, has reportedly lost her job after her employer found the gesture “lewd” or “obscene”.
The image of the woman identified as Juli Briskma, a mother of two, went viral on social media and was taken up by media outlets after it was captured by a White House photographer near to a Trump golf resort in Virginia.
Briskman has alleged that she had been sacked for sharing the pictures on her online profiles – Facebook and Twitter – as the employer, Akima LLC, a government contractor, found it against the company’s social media policy.
The 50-year-old woman informed the US media that she had been called by the firm’s executives into a meeting where they termed the picture lewd and a violation of company’s policy.
Briskman who worked in marketing and communications at the company for just over six months, added that she informed the management that the picture had not been taken during working hours and she had not mentioned the name of her firm on the social media posts.
However, the management said that the company was a government contractor and such image could bring losses to its business, she said.
Talking to Huffington Post, she said: “He was passing by and my blood just started to boil” because of his policies.
“I flipped off the motorcade a number of times,” she added.
The media outlet also quoted her as saying, “I’m angry about where our country is right now. I am appalled. This was an opportunity for me to say something.”
