Bob Parson's, Go Daddy CEO, Defends Elephant-Shooting Video

AOL Small Business:

Go Daddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons is not one to back down from a little controversy. The outspoken entrepreneur helped make his company a household name -- and the largest Internet domain registrar in the world -- with edgy Super Bowl commercials that have become perennial water-cooler fodder. Now, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the equally outspoken PETA and other animal-rights advocates over a graphic video he posted online, which depicts him shooting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. The video has already been viewed more than 300,000 times.

Parsons, a member of the AOL Small Business Board of Directors, says he was working with tribal authorities to prevent "problem elephant" from decimating crops, legally, and that the slain elephant provided food for impoverished villagers. PETA is leading the charge against Parsons, branding him the "Scummiest CEO of the Year," canceling its Go Daddy account and encouraging others to do the same. "Instead of coming up with flimsy excuses for killing these highly intelligent and social animals, Parsons should use his wealth to fund humane solutions to human/elephant conflicts," PETA said on its website.

Read the whole story: AOL Small Business

Comments

[Thehapypig]

11:01 PM on 04/06/2011

The slaying of the Elephant was legal....

It's a known fact that Elephants can trample anything. The villagers didn't want this Elephant ruining their crop. PETA forgets that not everyone lives in the marginally sheltered USA.

[william kirby]

10:32 PM on 04/05/2011

Just to clarify one point the murderer Parsons made. It was not a rogue male it was a 2 year old female! He likes killing but doesnt have the guts to tell the truth....also with all the money in the world he could have very easily supplied food to the villagers, which would have keot them fed for months! simple fact is that parsons likes to kill animals! If you are ok with that then stay with his company, but if you dont want your money going to future hunting trips, then leave godaddy- he has already stated that he will kill again

[chaiman11]

03:40 PM on 04/05/2011

This whole controversy is stupid. PETA says that he should be using his money to find non-lethal ways of helping African villages. If anything, I think he should arm the villagers and teach them how to hunt themselves.

[CPNASH]

10:56 PM on 04/02/2011

errr...what got him into slaughtering other mammals in the first place?...I'm sure it wasn't humanitarian causes (us other mammals).

[maxben]

10:34 AM on 04/03/2011

meaningless, people were whining about the elephant so he explained it.
Many people hunt and if the whole animal is used, as in feeding african villagers, than its moral.

[redmaple]

10:18 PM on 04/02/2011

What a noble man. When I think that I was accusing him of doing that just to inflate his balls. I'm an horrible person.

[Joe Ray Skrha]

06:43 PM on 04/02/2011

In Alaska, when industry requests to alter nature, they are required to put something back. EXAMPLE: if you need to install development in a nature reserve, the industry would be required to add on to the nature reserve IE: by buying 100,00 acres of private land and donating it to the reserve. What did Bob Parsons add to the elephants living area? Did he offer to buy additional private land and donate it to allow the elephants to have a larger domain? Did he offer to replace the elephant from the farm land to a reserve? No, he simply killed the elephant. If the native wanted the elephant dead, they could have killed it themselves... but then Bob would not have been able to claim the trophy kill.

[maxben]

10:35 AM on 04/03/2011

I'm sure he helped people by giving them food, stopping the elephant, and probably paying money.
He helped them in three different ways in one by killing an elephant they needed dead anyhow.

[35thsAman]

04:54 PM on 04/02/2011

Godaddy instead of spending 3million on a super bowl ad, should be spending that $$$ on their technology.

GoDaddy is SLOW and clunky. the technology is 20th century.

I will be looking for something else.

[atanner67]

04:22 PM on 04/02/2011

I was looking for a reason to leave your OVERLY COMPLICATED and expensive service. Transferred all my domain names today. You should too.

http://www.namecheap.com?aff=17624

Bye bye, Godaddy

[Lunamoth]

01:44 PM on 04/02/2011

Cretin.

[heroine addict]

01:38 PM on 04/02/2011

Say what you want Bobbie, but you have to understand that measures will also be taken for "problem humans".

I have 3 domains with them, anyone know how hard it is to switch, or any recommendations along those lines?

[lolo23]

11:17 AM on 04/03/2011

Just switched, definitely not difficult. I had to update nameservers and authorize a transfer, but the company I went with gave my good instructions on how to do that. If you just have domains (no hosting), I hear NameCheap is good. If you also have hosting, here's a list of cheap services
http://b2evolution.net/web-hosting/budget-web-hosting-low-cost-lamp.php
Hint, on a lot of these, if you select a plan, get to where you enter credit card information, then close the window, a few of these sites have pop-ups that offer an addition 25-60% discount the monthly hosting.

[heroine addict]

12:58 PM on 04/03/2011

Awesome reply! This is exactly what I was looking for, F&F!

[lolo23]

01:26 PM on 04/02/2011

The worst part is him trying to pass this off as great humanitarian work. Yeah right, he hunts big games and makes disturbing videos because he gets off on it, "helping the villagers" is just convenient excuse.

My domain with godaddy expires tomorrow, definitely a great time to transfer. Recommendations for cheap reliable domain/hosting service (just for a personal website, with low traffic)?

[maxben]

10:36 AM on 04/03/2011

So what if its "just an excuse"?
Its a legitimate excuse.

[lolo23]

10:58 AM on 04/03/2011

Maybe killing that elephant was justified, but making a video set to a rock song was still in poor taste and he should have known he wasn't going to make any new fans off of it. There's also a hundred other thing he can do with the money he has that will actually have a lasting impact on the villagers lives, much more so that killing off one elephant one day.
Eitherway, no more of my money will be going to the "Bob Parsons Objectify Women and Kill Elephants" fund, domain transferred yesterday.

[larmarch5]

12:24 PM on 04/02/2011

My husband is having a heck of a time bringing up a simple website he had created on one domain and then it got "cybersquatted." So he set it up as a .net with GoDaddy.  Every time he makes a change, he has to wait at least 24 hours so the rinkydinks can compile. He's had to talk to a tekkie there five or six times. So, you might be incensed about the GoDaddy violence (and why would anyone be surprised after watching their misogynistic ads), but basically the whole operation is prety rinky dink.

[DSM-IV-TR]

12:24 PM on 04/02/2011

Just transferred two of my domains to www.namecheap.com. They have a special transfer sale that ends today. See http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/

[Spock]

11:09 AM on 04/02/2011

One hundred years ago there was an estimated 10 million elephants living in Africa. Thanks to poaching and habitat loss, today that number is well below a million. Every effort should be made NOT to kill elephants. Africa, and Asia for that matter, is better WITH elephants than without. Parsons should have known better. He wanted to kill a big animal, and he found his perfect excuse.

[redmaple]

10:16 PM on 04/02/2011

There is way too many people and not enough elephants.

[Breezeit7]

10:53 AM on 04/02/2011

I'm from Zimbabwe and although educated in the states, Africa is home and I've devoted years of research and education on all things Africa. I can tell you many Africans, educated ones, are very disgusted by the manipulation of this man and hijacking our countries name for his momentary cheap thrill. Zimbabwe was a thriving nation and a staple for Africa, where both animals and humans thrived not long ago. Beautiful animals and same beautiful people coexisted. Today we have a corrupt government that is the leading problem. This government lies about the number of elephants with an exagerated number. Those who have educated in African region and wildlife know there are no more than 50,000 or so elephants in Zimbabwe. The government makes much money from rich American and European businessmen who come to Zimbabwe just to kill wildlife and not just elephants but leopards too. When caught they all claim they are very concerned for Africans when that is not the case at all. They can donate money to many causes that employ Africans in places that have methods to keep elephants away. These methods work in neighboring countries and work in Zambia and they employ locals, boosting economy. Animals are a treasured part of African culture and to have this rich businessmen lie about his intentions for profit and have people believe his words about our country is very upsetting. That video was completely self serving. Go back home Mr. Parsons

[Lunamoth]

01:46 PM on 04/02/2011

They are cre_tins with murderous intent. May they get what they truly deserve.