The Guy Who Tattooed His Dog No Longer Has A Job
A screenshot of the Red Legged Devils Tattoo Instagram page. Image: Gothamist
As many of you know, one of the biggest Brooklyn-related stories of the last two days has been about Mistah Metro a.k.a. Alex (no one knows his last name), a local tattoo artist who decided to give his dog some fresh ink while she was under anesthesia and then took to Instagram to show off his handiwork.
The public reaction has been accordingly vitriolic and as of today the owner of Alex’s place of work, Chris Torres of Prospect Heights’ Red Legged Devils LLC, has distanced himself from the artist and fired him.
“I don’t condone animal abuse,” Torres told DNAinfo. “This has gone viral. It’s not good.” Later, he continued the conversation with Gothamist, saying that “People are still offered jobs after being pedophiles,” and that everyone was treating the animal-loving Alex “like he raped a 12-year-old.”
Okay…
Moving on: We’d really like to know why the vet let Alex tattoo the dog. Yes, the dog is technically his “property,” but it perturbs us that this doctor, who presumably went through a rigorous medical program rooted in ethical behavior, allowed a clearly shortsighted person to do something so idiotic on his/her watch. The vet is somewhat culpable, right?
At the same time, most of us have a tattoo or know someone who has one and the truth is once it heals, you kind of forget about it. And as profoundly wrong as this whole incident is, it’s extremely unlikely that the dog will suffer any long term psychological or physical effects.
This was an asshole move plain and simple. Said asshole is being very publicly berated on comment boards, blogs, TV stations and print publications around the world and he’s now unemployed. All we’re saying is that human beings and animals here and abroad are dealing with significantly worse injustices.
And yet, the lidless Eye of Sauron we call the press remains fixed on this one idiot in Brooklyn.
“There are reporters outside his house, calling his mom,” his former boss told Gothamist, adding that he has no idea where the guy is.
Follow Nikita Richardson on Twitter @nikitarbk
