Dancing Traffic Cop Fired After Protest Against #BlackLivesMatter

The famous dancing traffic cop of Providence, Rhode Island was fired after he organized a protest against the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to the Providence Journal, Tony Lepore organized a protest of a local Dunkin’ Donuts coffee shop after a worker there wrote #BlackLivesMatter on a cop’s coffee cup in October. He was terminated as a result.

“Recent statements made by Mr. Lepore gave the inaccurate impression that he represented the position of the Providence Police Department,” said public safety commissioner Steven M. Paré in a statement. “Mr. Lepore was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Providence Police Department and his actions were, in my judgement, a disservice to the Department and to members of the Providence Community.”

Lepore responded in a Facebook post on Tuesday, saying that his detractors in the police department and the city were “political puppets.”

According to Lepore, the police chief and commission “degraded all the work I did for the street cops, and the work I did for the city for 30 years. They said it did’t matter.”

Lepore’s dance-filled traffic routine first gained fame back in 1984, when his antic gained the attention of local and national press.

[h/t Gawker]
[Image via screengrab]

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