See the Justine Sacco Tweet that has people outraged
New York-based Justine Sacco's tweet about AIDS, race and Africa has had Twitter in a frenzy, sparking the hashtag #HasJustineLanded.
The communications director for InterActiveCorp (IAC) tweeted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white” before reportedly boarding a plane to South Africa.
Her account has since been deleted.
The URL http://justinesacco.com now redirects to Aid for Africa.
Justine has since apologised for the "pain" her comments had caused. The now jobless Justine, was the communications director for the internet company InterActive Corp (IAC) - the owner of such popular websites as Match.com, Dictionary.com, OkCupid and Vimeo.
After sending her statement to South African newspaper The Star, Sacco shared the follow apology with ABC:
“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,” Sacco said in the statement. “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.”
"Justine Sacco should get fired..." and "Total LOSER!", I seriously hope you keep that joking demeanor while you're in the unemployment office. You're going to need it!... were some of the milder reactions posted on Twitter.
Justine's dad lives in South Africa. Not going to be a fun Christmas for Justine, let's hope she stays off Twitter.