Dec 22

IAC’s PR Chief Apparently Tweeted a Bizarrely Tasteless Joke About AIDS and Africa

Posted in: Uncategorized

UPDATE 4: (3:56 p.m., Dec. 22): Justine Sacco has written a public apology, noting, "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." 

UPDATE 3 (5:35 p.m., Dec. 21): IAC says it has fired Justine Sacco.

UPDATE 2 (12:24 a.m., Dec. 21): Justine Sacco's Twitter account appears to have been deleted. Meanwhile, her tweet had become a trending topic of global discussion, with brands and Web celebrities alike joining in the fray.

UPDATE: A rep for IAC tells Valleywag: "This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC. Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an international flight, but this is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action."

Original item below:

If Justine Sacco is on a flight to Africa right now, I don't envy her the notifications that will be waiting for her when she lands. 

Sacco, senior director of corporate communications at the massive digital holding company IAC, apparently tweeted the following earlier today: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

The tweet has since attracted scorn and disbelief from Silicon Valley and far beyond. IAC is no small player in the digital realm. The company owns many popular websites, including About.com, Match.com, Vimeo, CollegeHumor, OkCupid and Urbanspoon.

Of course, this is the Internet, where things aren't always what they seem. The @JustineSacco Twitter account appears to be legitimate, though anyone could theoretically have gotten ahold of her phone and posted the message.

That said, many have been digging through her earlier tweets and pointing out messages like this one from January of this year: 

We've reached out to Sacco for comment and will update this item if we hear back.


    

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Dec 22

Justine Sacco Fired by IAC for ‘Hope I Don’t Get AIDS’ Tweet

Posted in: Uncategorized

UPDATE: Justine Sacco has issued the following written apology to South African newspaper The Star, according to ABC News:

"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.

"For being insensitive to this crisis—which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly—and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed.

"This is my father's country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused."

Original item below:

Website parent company IAC, owner of Match.com, Vimeo and many other popular services, announced today it has fired PR chief Justine Sacco for her instantly infamous tweet about AIDS in Africa.

"The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC.  We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question," the company said in a statement emailed to journalists.

"There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally. We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."

The whirlwind story of a successful PR pro's downfall on a global social media stage unfolded in little more than 24 hours. Sacco's tweet—"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"—was posted shortly before she boarded a flight, leaving her likely unaware of the worldwide consternation and mockery she had instigated.


    

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Dec 21

Brands, Web Celebrities and Anonymous Join Global Mockery of PR Pro’s AIDS Tweet

Posted in: Uncategorized

UPDATE: Despite an overwhelmingly positive response from Twitter users, Gogo has apologized for its tweet making fun of Justine Sacco:

Original item below:

By the time her tweet mocking AIDS in Africa had been deleted tonight (followed shortly by her entire Twitter account), corporate PR director Justine Sacco had already become more than a target of public loathing. She had become a hashtag. 

#HasJustineLandedYet was popping up across Twitter as word spread faster than an intercontinental jet about the IAC spokeswoman's tweet, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

And in a marketing coup de grace so pointed it's almost painful, Gogo in-flight Internet used Sacco's lengthy silence as an example of why you really need to use Gogo in-flight Internet: "Next time you plan to tweet something stupid before you take off, make sure you are getting on a @Gogo flight! CC: @JustineSacco."

Here's the original tweet:

And here's a sample of a few other tweets of note arising from Sacco's situation:


    

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