This is an old revision of this page, as edited by imported>Cobaltcat at 01:49, 21 February 2014. It may differ significantly from the current revision.
Just before Christmas in 2013, Justine Sacco, a PR executive from IAC (Parent company of such websites as OKCupid, Match.com, Vimeo and Collegehumor) did some of her best public relations work when she made a hilarious joke on Twitter.
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Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!
The best part is that after making the tweet she boarded her plane for her 12 hour flight to Africa, giving the Internet plenty of time to man the harpoons. Trolls and social justice warriors alike could not wait for her flight to arrive and for her to see the Internet shitstorm that she created, eventually creating the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet, which trended worldwide for most of the day.
Apparently Justine has been fired, as her employer has scrubbed any evidence of her existence from their website. We at Encyclopedia Dramatica would be proud to have her on our team, however, as long as she doesn't mind working for free.
Quotes
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Justine, what the hell are you doing, are you crazy? Not nice or fair! I will support @AidforAfrica. Justine is FIRED!
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.
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.
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.