PR Guru

[Gob]

An American public relations expert has incurred the wrath of the online world after she tweeted an offensive comment about AIDS in Africa on Saturday.



Justine Sacco has been trending on micro social media website Twitter across the world after she tweeted: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!".

It is believed Sacco, who works for media company IAC, was in London at the time, getting ready to board a plane to South Africa.

The tweet spread across the globe and within hours #HasJustineLandedYet was the second highest trending item on Twitter is Australia during Saturday evening.

Sacco's original tweet was deleted but that didn't stop it going viral and being retweeted thousands of times.

Within hours, furious online users had tracked down Sacco's employer and family background and posted details on social media.

While Sacco was still in the air, IAC released a statement distancing itself from her views.

"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."

There is speculation that Sacco has since lost her job.

Tweeter Chuba Ezekwesili stated: "Never seen perfect amounts of racism,white privilege and stupidity in one single tweet. Impressive" and Kate Iselin stated: "'She's in PR, she should know better!' No - she should know better because she's HUMAN and an adult"

By the afternoon, her account had been deleted but several parody accounts were created in its place. The domain justinesacco.com was registered and redirected visitors to charity website Aid for Africa.

The intensity of the anger was such that death threats were made.

It appears Sacco created a new Twitter account about an hour ago and has been personally apologising to the many thousands of people she angered.

"I was stupid for posting that tweet and beg for all of your forgiveness. I tried to make a joke but it backfired on me."

Sacco tweeted that she would spend the rest of the evening apologising online and over the phone and indicated she would appear on CNN to discuss the saga.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/offensive-t ... z2o9U2Nup9

[Gob]

A US public relations executive has lost her job with the media company IAC, after tweeting a racist message about Aids in Africa.

Justine Sacco provoked an internet storm when she tweeted: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white."

Ms Sacco has now apologised for the comment, saying: "Words cannot express how sorry I am."

She added that she was ashamed "for being insensitive" about Aids.

IAC issued a statement on Saturday evening saying that the company and Ms Sacco had "parted ways".

Ashamed "for being insensitive" about Aids, but obviously quite relaxed about being a racist bitch.

[Long Run]

Whoever told her that"jk" could get you off the hook for saying any offensive or stupid thing must have added their own jk to that message.

[MajGenl.Meade]

It was both stupid and (I suppose) racist in a way. I've been pondering what she could have had in mind (sic).

The only rationale I can think of is that she was indicating that the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa would not affect her because she, being white, would not have sex with a black person - the ones in Africa most likely to have HIV/AIDS (on sheer numbers that's true). Being white of course doesn't protect one from dirty needles or contaminated blood transfusions. Her saying that being white means she wouldn't have sex with a black person is based on racialist thinking.

Had she only said "I don't have indiscriminate sex", which one would hope is the case, her Twat (I think that's what those dumb messages are called) wouldn't have caused much interest unless of course someone interpreted it to mean that Africans do have indiscriminate sex and we're back to racism.

I find it an interesting comment on how things are here. I could probably truthfully say: "I have to go for surgery. Hope it's not at Pelonomi Hospital. JK. I'm white!"

No one (including blacks) would think such a remark racist although on some level it definitely is. I wouldn't go to Pelonomi because I have a health plan and I can afford not to go to Pelonomi which is a "black" hospital. That is, there's no colour bar either way but the poor go there and if you wait stoically for six hours for your 8 a.m. appointment and then being told to come back tomorrow because the doctors went home at noon (but no one told you until 2) and the medicines ran out anyway... well, if you experience that, you are 99.9% unlikely to be white. If I told a black person I was going to Pelonomi for health care, he or she would probably knock me on the head and drag me to MediClinic for psychiatric evaluation. That may be hyperbollocks.

Of course, it's not really because I'm white that I would rather chew rusty razor blades than go to Pelonomi - it's because I have a choice that almost all black people do not have. It's not that health plans are only used by whites - the burgeoning (so slowly) middle class black or coloured or Indian use those too. But it must be said that statistically speaking, the fact of whiteness or race in Mzansi is a remarkably accurate predictor of who gets many services, what kind and how they are accessed.

I could equally say "I don't qualify for RDP housing because I'm a white man". And that would be 100% true because I am not (and never can be) "formerly disadvantaged".

Much of what is called "racism" is actually both racist and true. And that brings up the question: if this particular lady would indeed never have sex with a black person because she is white, is that racism or is it merely a choice? Mohamed Ali said exactly the same thing in public, over and again, and never lost his jab. (sorry)

Certainly, Twatting such a message is offensive, stupid and worthy of condemnation. But condemnation for what exactly?

Meade

[Lord Jim]

The only rationale I can think of is that she was indicating that the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa would not affect her because she, being white, would not have sex with a black person

I really don't think she thought it out that far...

I suspect it was more like, "It's Africa, where only black people get AIDS, so I don't have to worry because I'm white"...(yuk, yuk)

From the articles I've read on this, I understand that Ms. Sacco (who has now gotten the sacko) tweeted this witty bon mot while sitting in an airport waiting to board a 12 hour flight...

I'm going to speculate that she might have spent a little too long in the airport cocktail lounge, which may have played a role in her over estimating the humor value of her one liner...

[Lord Jim]

Here's another take on this, by a journalist who is an acquaintance of the lady:

Justine Sacco And The Self-Inflicted Perils Of Twitter

A few weeks ago, I had a drink with my friend Justine Sacco and we talked about what makes for a good Tweet.

Justine is an easy person to like — frank, funny, quick to laugh. To a reporter, she’s the kind of flack who’s all too rare, the kind who doesn’t stop being a person when she badges in for the day at work. Although a tough and forceful advocate for her employers, I could trust her not to waste my time or feed me a line, even when we found ourselves at cross purposes. While we’ve never hung out socially, I’ve always enjoyed the occasional lunch or drink we’d have to catch up.

It was over such a drink a few weeks ago that the subject of Twitter came up. Although she’d been using the service for several years, Justine was still figuring out its nuances. One thing she’d noticed was that people seemed to like the Tweets that were just a little bit risque or outrageous. She mentioned a recent post about Jimmy Fallon seeming like a “grateful lover,” which had gotten a strong response.

I flashed back to this conversation on Friday after Justine set off an avalanche of fury — on Twitter, on Facebook and in the news media across the globe — by tweeting, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

In the many, many blog posts and social media threads that ensued, “racist” was the word that was most frequently used to characterize this joke. That was not my reaction. I interpreted it as a self-deprecating joke about white guilt and Western privilege — about the sheepish feeling of being physically close to tragedy while remaining safe in an economic and cultural bubble. Others have told me they read it much the same way, even without knowing the author. “I think she was more mocking the aloofness white people can have on this issue, not celebrating that aloofness,” says one friend.

That reading doesn’t erase all grounds for offense, of course. There are still plenty of people who will never think it’s OK to make a joke involving AIDS, for starters. More to the point, perhaps, the very act of making a joke like that and assuming other people will receive it the way you intended it betrays an ethnocentrism, a blinkered worldview. I think that’s what Justine was getting at in her apology when she described her joke as “cavalier” and “insensitive.”

Compounding the bad judgment was a perfect storm of circumstances. Stuck on a plane for hours, Justine was unaware of the outrage she’d sparked, unable to delete or attempt to explain it. That allowed the affair to swell into a real-time news event that was fascinating even to spectators who had no particular feelings about it. Justine’s professional affiliation with billionaire Barry Diller and his well-known companies made her seem important, not just some random crank; a number of other ill-advised tweets provided fresh fodder and the outline of a caricature; her job as a communications professional lent the whole episode an irresistible irony.

More here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovi ... f-twitter/

[Crackpot]

I had expected the same sort of explanation I just didn't know how to word it. Still she should have reviewed it before sending.