04/29/2026
🎶 "up here at Ashley…"
If you know, you know.
For those who don't, from what I can gather, a guy who worked at an Ashley Furniture store in Memphis started making freestyle rap videos inside the store, basically telling people to come shop. It doesn't seem like anyone at Ashley asked him to do it. He just thought it would be fun. The videos went viral, and from what's out there, corporate's response was to tell him to take them down. He didn't, and he was let go.
As an attorney who handles employment matters, this one is a good reminder of something that comes up with clients more than people might think. Work and social media don't mix as casually as we treat them. Even when something feels harmless, or actually helpful, employers still care about who's speaking for the company, what's being said, and whether anyone signed off on it. Most policies give them a lot of room to decide that for themselves.
Illinois is an at-will state, which means an employer can let someone go for almost any reason, or no reason at all, as long as the reason isn't an illegal one. That surprises people. There's this assumption that if you're doing something positive, or something that's clearly benefitting the company, you're protected. You're usually not.
I'm not going to weigh in on his specific situation because none of us know the full story, and these things almost always come down to facts you can't see from the outside. But the bigger takeaway is worth sitting with. If your job has a social media policy, read it. If you're not sure whether something is okay to post, ask before you post it, not after it goes viral.
Plot twist though, another store already scooped him up and he's been posting about it.
Meanwhile I've been humming "up here at Ashley" for three days straight.
