Belgian Day Care Worker Fired For Wearing KISS Shirt

February 8, 2009

Universal Entropy reports that a 20-year-old man was fired on his first day of work at the Belgian day care center De Mereltjes this past week because he showed up on the job wearing a KISS t-shirt with a print of Gene Simmons in a classical pose. According to the director of the day care center, Kathleen Buysse, several of the parents and staff reacted to Yannick Houbben's shirt (see photos below) because it reminded them of the the acts of Kim De Gelder, a 20-year-old who stabbed 15 people in another Belgian day care center on January 23, killing two babies (6 and 9 months old),and one day care worker. (At the time, many media outlets reported that the murderer's face was painted in white and black, something that was later proven to be false.) One father was enraged and vowed not to let his kid return as long as Houbben was still working there.

Houbben was asked to go home and change his shirt, which he promptly did. While at home, he received a phone call from Buysse, who informed him that he should not bother to come back to work, and she proceeded, according to Houbben, to compare him to De Gelder, the murderer from Dendermonde.

"Too much has happened here," Buysse told the De Standaard newspaper. "I think it would be better for him if he could start over with a clean slate somewhere else. It would also be too hard on the parents, who would have to see him every day."

Houbben is reportedly planning on suing the day care center for wrongful termination.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).