Leadership at Franklin Resources (dba Franklin Templeton [profile]) has pushed out a PM in the wake of a viral video of an argument and 911 call over the holiday weekend.

"Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately," the Franklin team posted yesterday via the company's Twitter account. "We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton."

The now-former Franklin employee in question is Amy Cooper, who led insurance investment solutions and served as a PM. On Monday morning, Cooper was walking her dog in New York City's Central Park when she got into an argument over her dog being off its leash in an area where leashes are required. The birdwatcher, who is a black man, filmed Cooper, who is white, as she called 911, saying that an African-American man was threatening her and her dog.

That video, after being shared on Monday afternoon on social media, already has tens of millions of views, and the incident has been covered by a host of publications, including Bloomberg, Citywire, Institutional Investor, the New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsweek, P&I, and Vice. Cooper subsequently apologized for the incident.

Franklin's leadership initially put Cooper on leave while investigating.  

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE