News keeps getting worse for Denise Helms, the 22-year-old California woman whose racist, threatening Facebook status about President Barack Obama went viral this week. Helms has since been fired from her job at a Turlock, Calif., Cold Stone Creamery, and the Secret Service is now looking into her comments.
“Another 4 years of this (N-word),” Helms wrote on her Facebook Tuesday night. “Maybe he will get assassinated this term.”
Sacramento's Fox 40 news crew caught up with an unapologetic Helms on Wednesday.
"I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," she said. "The assassination part is kind of harsh. I'm not saying like I would go do that or anything like that, by any means, but if it was to happen, I don't think I'd care one bit."
She then took to Facebook to defend herself, according to The Modesto Bee.
So apparently my post last night about Obama got onto Twitter and Fox 40 came and interviewed me cause apparently a lot of people in Sacramento think I'm crazy and racist. WOW is all I got to say!! I'm not racist and I'm not crazy. just simply stating my opinion.!!!"
Her Facebook account has since been deactivated.
Helm's supervisor, Turlock Cold Stone Creamery store director Chris Kegle, told The Bee that he was shocked to read about his employee's comments, which he said do not line up with his company's values.
"We found her comments to be very disgusting," Kegle said. "We made the decision [to fire her] because of her comments, but also the community feedback. We are very into working with the community and doing community service. So when your community does not like you because of an employee, that's bad. We have a business to run."
Cold Stone's Twitter feed was besieged by angry tweets, and the company has worked hard to disassociate itself with Helms.
@poojababyy This employee is no longer w/the company. Her comments are outrageous, completely unacceptable & in no way reflect our views.
— Cold Stone Creamery (@ColdStone) November 8, 2012
Following the Fox 40 reports, Agent Scott Gillingham from the Sacramento Secret Service office said he would be checking out her posts.
The Washington, D.C., bureau of the Secret Service told Fox 40 that all threats, or perceived threats, are taken seriously and investigated. If the Secret Service were to decide her threat was legitimate, Helms could face a felony under U.S. Code Section 871, which states prohibits willfully and knowingly threatening "to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm " on the president, vice president or other office next in succession to the presidency.
In September, a North Carolina man was arrested for threatening to kill President Barack Obama in a series of Twitter messages, according to The Smoking Gun. Donte Jamar Sims, 21, was charged in a felony criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.
Helms' troubling comments about Obama's race were echoed on election night across the Twitterverse, as many people used social media to spread similar messages. In an effort to curb the trend, Jezebel tracked down many of the teenage miscreants and contacted their schools. Almost all have since taken down their Twitter accounts.