COMMENTARY: MGM damages the Vegas brand by suing the Oct. 1 victims
Did the company that owned the World Trade Center sue the 3,000 dead victims? Did they sue the poor souls who jumped out of the 100th floor to their death to avoid burning flames?
Do you think McDonald’s will sue their customers who recently got violently ill after eating tainted salads at their restaurants around the country?
How about Chipotle? Did they sue the thousands of customers who got sick in multiple illness outbreaks at their restaurants?
Of course not. These are ludicrous ideas. No company or CEO in his right mind would ever dare initiate such legal action, right?
Except CEO Jim Murren and his company, MGM Resorts International, just did essentially that. They sued the victims. They sued people who were grievously wounded. They sued people paralyzed for life. They sued people with PTSD who may never feel safe again. They sued wives who will never see their husbands again. And children left without parents. And parents who will never see their kids again.
In several past columns, I’ve written about the two rules of business wisdom imparted upon me by my brilliant immigrant grandfather. He said the two rules that can never be violated are:
No. 1: The customer is always right.
No. 2: If the customer is wrong, please refer back to No. 1.
Grandpa would never have believed MGM’s new rule of business: If concert patrons are injured, paralyzed or killed by a gunman shooting from a room at one of your properties, sue them and make sure they are victimized, terrorized and traumatized a second time.
MGM actually went there. The face of Las Vegas. The biggest employer in this town. The largest gaming company in the world. Run by Murren.
Doesn’t the Nevada Gaming Commission sometimes fine Vegas gaming companies — and block executives from being employed by Vegas gaming companies — for hurting the Las Vegas brand? Well, this is the biggest black eye in Vegas history. I believe this is the worst branding in the history of business. This is the destruction of MGM’s brand. Kirk Kerkorian is rolling over in his grave.
This decision makes old-time Vegas mobster CEOs look like good guys looking out for the best interests of their customers. Bugsy Siegel looks like a model corporate citizen compared to Jim Murren’s decision to screw the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
But this is just one in a long line of terrible decisions by Murren.
Strike one was the suffocating greed of charging obscene fees for parking for the first time in Vegas history. Strike two was deciding to screw over locals, too — which is why many Vegas residents don’t go near MGM properties anymore. Strike three was publicly endorsing radical leftist organizations disguised as charities such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The U.S. government declared CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator to terrorism. Even Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called CAIR “a front for Hamas.” SPLC has put mainstream conservatives, Christians and churches on a “hate list.”
Three strikes and you’re out.
But no one — including me — ever imagined Murren would issue a strike four with this disgraceful, mean-spirited and heartless move, a move that is destructive to the image of Las Vegas. What CEO in his right mind would want to turn his brand into the most hated company in the history of business?
Four strikes and you’re out, Jim Murren. It’s time for the Nevada Gaming Commission to act. This lawsuit has literally ruined MGM and brought great shame upon the Las Vegas brand.
Contact Wayne Allyn Root at Wayne@ROOTforAmerica.com. Hear the nationally syndicated “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show” from 3 to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now.