Austin Symphony Orchestra member fired over racist comments

Early Sunday morning, outrage began to spark on social media regarding racist comments by a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra.

As tweets calling for action began to accumulate, the Austin Symphony tweeted out "We have been made aware that a musician of the Austin Symphony Orchestra has made an offensive post on their social media account regarding the protests across our country. This language is not reflective of who we are as an organization.

The tweet went on to say "The ASO is committed to being an inclusive organization as well as provide a safe space for all. We will follow up on the situation and take appropriate action."

At approximately 6:00p.m., Sunday evening, the organization responded with an updated statement that the accused musician was no longer employed with the ASO.

In a message from the ASO's Executive Directory, Anthony Corroa, he stated “We would like to thank the community and let you know that your voice was heard. As previously stated, we were made aware of offensive posts that were shared on social media by one of our musicians late last night. Once alerted, we were appalled by the comments as they are clearly not reflective of who we are as an organization. We began to work quickly and closely with the American Federation of Musicians, our Orchestra Committee, staff and other key members."

The message concluded with "At this time we can state that the musician is no longer employed by the ASO for there is no place for hate within our organization. Thank you for your patience while we navigated through the necessary channels.”

The Austin Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1911 and is Austin’s oldest performing arts group.