TJ Walker breaks down the fallout from Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer killing Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. Palmer faced media outrage, death threats, and a shuttered practice. Walker proposes a year of pro bono dentistry in Africa, relocation, a book deal with proceeds to animal charities, then a return to practice.
Is facing a crisis. So here's the situation. A Minnesota dentist by the name of Walter Palmer went lion hunting earlier this month in Africa. He paid for what he thought was a legitimate lion hunter, so he claims, and went hunting with a bow and arrow, killed a lion. Thought everything was completely on the up and up. Turns out it was a lion from a zoo. And not just any lion, but an extraordinarily popular lion. And now people are utterly outraged. The lion was somehow lured out of the zoo and was basically set up for this doctor to slaughter him with a bow and arrow. People are outraged. If you look at Facebook in the last day or two, you've probably seen references to this guy. People are treating him as if he were a cross between a mass murderer like Ted, a serial killer like Ted Bundy, and a mass, mass genocidal murderer like Pol Pot. His dental practice has essentially been shut down. People are overwhelming Yelp. He's getting death threats left and right. He has become an absolute pariah. Now he's apologized and has apparently gone into hiding. And he's not my client, but if he were my client, how would I advise him on how to deal with this crisis? Because it's completely overwhelming. His personal life, his professional life, his reputation. It's everywhere in traditional media and social media. How do you get on top of something like this? It's not going to be easy. He can't simply just go on vacation for six weeks and hope it all blows over. At this point, even the guy's friends who want to support him, you have to think, would be scared of being seen walking out of his dental practice for fear that someone would throw blood on them or sabotage their car at this point. So how should this dentist get his life and his practice back in order? My recommendation, shut down your practice, move out of Minnesota, move to Africa, and work pro bono for a year providing dentistry to needy people in Africa. Come back after a year, write a book about all your experiences, promote the book on Good Morning America and other talk shows, and then get all of the proceeds to a nonprofit organization that helps animals in Africa. If he does that, I think the people who are so angry with him would let him get on with his life. He could go back to Minnesota or someplace else, start a dental practice and resume living. Until he does something like that, Dr. Palmer is going to be hunted.
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