Justine Sacco, formally the head of corporate communications for Barry Diller’s New York-based internet empire InterActive Corp, has been fired after a racist tweet which went viral while she was in the air for an 11-hour flight from London to Cape Town, where she flew to be with her family over Christmas. Sacco issued a statement on Sunday to the Star newspaper in South Africa. She also deleted the tweet and then her entire twitter account after landing. The tweet (below) was retweeted over 2000 times and went viral after Buzzfeed picked it up and the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet trended.
In her statement Sacco said she was in “anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people. Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet.
There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.”
Sacco was born in South Africa and her father still lives there.
And the best response is this tweet from Ellie mac @ellenmc
Going to North America. Hope I don’t get shot by George Zimmerman. Just kidding! I’m white.#HasJustineLandedYet
— Ellie Mac (@ellenmc) December 21, 2013
What do you think?