A security guard who worked at singer Taylor Swift's 'The Eras Tour' has lost his job over photos of him with the singer.
The security guard named Calvin Decker claimed to have been fired after he asked fans to take pictures of him while he's on duty, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Decker , who went viral earlier this summer for singing along to 'Cruel Summer' during a June show at U.S. Bank Stadium, admitted he applied for the security job largely in order to attend Taylor's concert without paying for tickets. He was stationed in front of the center stage.
In a TikTok video posted a few days after the concert, Decker shared that he passed notes to concertgoers asking them to text him any photos they took that featured him and Swift.
"After night one, I was realising how close Taylor Swift was getting to me, so I really wanted to get a photo to document it. So I handed down these little pieces of paper that said I wasn't allowed to have my phone out, but if Taylor Swift comes right behind me, please take a photo of me and text it to my number," he said.
"And I handed this out to a couple of people in the front row for night two and they were really kind and really sweet about it," the Minneapolis security guard said. He said he did not pass a note to the woman who posted the TikTok video of him singing, but he was "so happy to see me going viral."
However, his happiness was cut short after the security company, Best Crowd Management, fired him due to a rule prohibiting staffers from taking photos with performers.
"Beyond that, the HR woman who called me wasn't able to articulate exactly what I did wrong, because I didn't do anything beyond asking for photos, which is what happens at any other concert, with the only exception being that I made sure I got any that I was included in," so he claimed in an update video posted in August.
He added: "Every photo of me from that night was from behind the barricade like any other photo from a fan would be. I never took my own phone out. And above all else, I made sure that Taylor Swift was safe and all the fans had a good time. As long as I was at that concert, I was doing my job."
Calvin said in the video that he offered to delete the post and the company's human resources representative said she would get back to him.
However, he said he didn't hear back for more than a month and was then scheduled to work an Ed Sheeran concert at U.S. Bank Stadium. At that event, "a couple of managers talked to me just to make sure that I wouldn't be making any videos, but a lot of them were really cool and willing to give me a second chance," he recalled.
But after working a seven-hour shift, Calvin said he was approached by HR and was then officially fired.
Despite losing his job, the security guard told his followers: "Please don't go sending any hate to this company. I just wanted to update all of you because it was a very popular TikTok for me, so I wanted to let all of you know what had happened. I still got to work one of the coolest concerts ever, and I got to work it twice, so that is fantastic, and I hold no grudges against my employer."
