Dave Palumbo, owner of RX, finally comments on Aaron and why he was fired
"I’m writing this post because I felt it was important to reveal my thoughts on Aaron Singerman’s departure from Rx Muscle. I hope that our industry knows me well enough by now to realize that I place a high value on reporting the truth on subjects ranging from bodybuilding to politics to the spiritual question of why we’re all here. In that light, let me start off by saying that Aaron is a very talented individual who, when he applies himself, is capable of achieving just about anything he sets his mind out to. It was this drive and determination and passion that impressed me enough to, initially, hire Aaron to work for Rx Muscle; and after a year of dedicated service impressed me enough to promote him to the title of editor-in-chief of the website. No longer would I have to worry about editing articles, attending every show, and filming contest video myself. Or so I thought.
You see, Aaron loves to promote his achievements. In fact, he’s excellent at it. The problem is that he’s not very keen at promoting things he’s not involved in. Aaron also doesn’t like to do jobs that may be considered “behind the scenes”—jobs such as editing other people’s articles, or promoting other writers work. He finds these less than glamorous and, if he can get away with it, he’ll shunt those responsibilities. The editor-in-chief title is an all-encompassing position; meaning you must read, edit, fix, and promote (via social networking) the entire Rx Muscle site’s worth of content (Rx Muscle Main, Rx Girl, Rx Strength, and Mens Physique) every single day. Aaron was warned many times about neglecting these duties and was even given the option of stepping down from the position of editor in chief in favor of merely getting paid for doing what he liked to do—attending shows, radio hosting, and selling advertising. Aaron chose, instead, to give me an ultimatum. Either he keeps his Editor in Chief job (with full pay) or he leaves. To make matters worse, he threatened to convince sponsors to leave Rx Muscle if I chose to release him from his duties. Well, there’s one thing that we do not do over at Rx Muscle; we do not negotiate with terrorists. So I chose the option to release Aaron from his duties.
In case you’re thinking that I'm being kinda hard on Aaron for not doing this one duty, there’s another deal-breaking bad habit that Aaron had exposed just recently—he lied directly to my face. Lying is another pet peeve of mine that I simply won’t tolerate. I realize that, in Aaron’s mind, he’s never lied to me. This is because Aaron believes that it’s acceptable to tell people what they want to hear; that there’s no harm in it as long as the subject matter (in his mind) is not serious. The problem with this thinking process is two-fold. (1) Usually the “white lie” is something way more serious (on a deeper level) than Aaron imagines and (2) when these lies start to involve many different industry people, he starts to forget what the truth really is; and that’s when the real trouble begins. As Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything”.
So In closing, I want to reiterate that, despite what went down, I still consider Aaron and his family (his wife Darielle, son Asher, and his parents) to be wonderfully loving people. They all have tremendous hearts and would give you the proverbial shirt off their backs. That’s a unique quality that not many people can lay claim to. However, in the business world, sometimes friendship and business just doesn’t mesh well. So, I wish Aaron and his family all the best. With his passion and drive he’ll always earn a good living for his family and I’m sure, sooner or later, he’ll find his place in society."
