Edina Real Estate Agent Fired For Removing BLM Posters: Report

EDINA, MN – Less than a week after boasting on social media about tearing down Black Lives Matters flyers in downtown Edina, a longtime agent with Edina Reality has been fired, the company confirmed on Thursday, despite an explanation that her actions were taken out of context.

Babette Bean was terminated after she posted the image of a crumpled poster on Facebook. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported this week. The newspaper indicated the social media post included a comment from Bean that read, “I ripped off many in DT Edina tonight.”

In an email to Patch on Thursday, Gena Henrich, Edina Realty's director of marketing, wrote that Bean is no longer licensed with Edina Reality and indicated that the company would not have further comment on the matter.

In an email sent to the Star-Tribune earlier this week, Bean wrote that she removed the Black Lives Matter posters from a light pole near her apartment because the placement of posters is a city ordinance violation. She told the newspaper that she has done the same with other such public postings for garage sales, public notices and other signs for the same reason and has done so for years.

“I did not remove these signs because I am somehow racist or against the movement to once and for all eradicate systemic racism in our government institutions and society,” Bean wrote in the email to the Star-Tribune. “I fully support the public outcry for long overdue change in our police departments that all too often deliver grossly unequal justice to African Americans and other minorities.”

Edina Reality operates throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin and has an estimated 2,300 agents. In an interview with the Star-Tribune, the company’s CEO, Greg Mason, said it is committed to promoting equity and told the newspaper it will now “double down” on its efforts.

In the days after George Floyd's death on Memorial Day, Mason issued a statement that was posted on Edina Realty's Facebook page and website that indicated the company has signed a statement with 50 other Minnesota companies pledging to fight against racial injustice and inequity as well as acts of violence.

"We pledge: change has to start today, and it needs to start with us," the statement from Mason read. "So, as a company, we’re reflecting on all the ways we can do better in serving diverse communities by promoting inclusion and equality, but also by helping to identify—and remove—historical barriers. We know there is work to do. We’re listening and we’re here for it."