STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT: Des Hague, former CEO of the food company Centerplate, made a wave of headlines in 2014 when he was ousted from his high-profile job after a viral video showed him kicking a puppy in a hotel elevator.
Now nearly a decade later, Hague has penned a book named 'Fifteen Minutes of Shame: How a Twitter Mob Nearly Ruined My Life', in which he describes his experience in the fallout of the incident.
"My 17-year-old son was physically attacked by rabid people outside of Walgreens. My wife had just had a double mastectomy and she was getting hate mail," he told Daily Mail.
"There were moments I wanted to kill myself," admitted Hague as he reflected on his darkest moment, where he was forced to resign as CEO of the $6 billion food company.
Why did Des Hague kick the puppy?
In the shocking surveillance footage, Hague was seen repeatedly kicking the dog as it cowered in the elevator before yanking it with a leash and swinging him around.
Speaking to Daily Mail last week, Hague revealed that the pooch belonged to his friend, who asked him to take it out for a walk. The father of two also stated that he kicked the pup after the animal jumped on him and dislocated two fingers of his right hand.
"It's not my finest moment, it wasn't intentional," Hague stated before adding, "The reality of the situation was I was walking my friend's dog. It must have startled or seen something, he jumped behind me, and dislocated two of my fingers on my right hand - in a flash of anger, I did over-discipline the dog."
"I obviously didn't harm the dog. The dog actually was on a harness. So, I was trying to just control - it was a situation that went horribly wrong. I'm not making any excuses for it. I own it," he further said.
Hague continued by explaining how the aftermath of his actions cost him “multiple millions of dollars on an annual basis.”
"The sad thing that really affects me and my wife, is we have spent decades helping people in the community from homeless to abused, sheltered women, millions of dollars we've raised in each of these companies," he asserted.
What consequence did Des Hague face as a result of his behavior?
As a result of Hague’s actions, the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals removed the dog and fined Hague $5,000. He was also banned from keeping animals for three years.
However, Hague's punishment went further after Centerplate decided to let him go following a persistent campaign by "hysterical colleagues."
"Basically, I was told you got 24 hours: You can either resign or you're fired and, you know, to me, that was a dereliction of duty by the board," he said, as the company had initially said they would stand by him.
He also added that the incident was a severe blow to his wallet.
Hague continued by expressing that now he is trying to see if the public is willing to overlook his actions in light of the fact that he has suffered the loss of his career, reputation, friendships, and potential future earnings.
"It took me years to process it- normal people don't go through those experiences and those cancellation cycles," he said, adding, "Your friends just run to the mountains and don't protect you."
Since leaving his former post, Hague became the CEO of the frozen food firm Foozer, a position that does not compare to the one he lost.
Why did Des Hague slam cancel culture?
Further in the conversation, Hague mentioned a recent interview by Jennifer Aniston, who slammed cancel culture, saying, "I'm so over cancel culture. Is there no redemption? I don't put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket."
The ‘Friends’ star made the surprising remarks after she disabled her Instagram comments following a shocking incident where an account under her name hit the like button on a controversial post from Jamie Foxx which had allusions to anti-Semitism.
Hague agreed with Aniston’s comments and said, "I love the article that Jennifer came out with saying: "Enough of cancel culture"."
Hague writes in his book about growing up in an abusive household after his widowed father started dating his alcoholic stepmother, as well as a terrifying sexual assault he suffered from later in life.
"There is no connection to being physically abused, stabbed beaten up, and thrown downstairs and had a hot frying pan almost tipped on me and stitches in my knee from abuse," he said about the dog incident, making it clear that none of those caused this.
"I wanted this story to be out there, and if I was going to tell my story. I wanted this book to be real, raw, unfiltered. Did I want to talk about being raped? Absolutely not," he added.
When asked if he is urging the public to forgive him because of his abusive childhood, Hague replied, "No, it was definitely not about sympathy because I don't believe in it. I believe I made the mistake."
