Justine Sacco, the chief communications director for IAC, who represents brands like OKCupid, Ask.com, Dictionary.com and Chemistry.com tweeted on Friday: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” from London shortly before departing on a trip to Cape Town in South Africa.
After sparking outrage across the world, the tweet disappeared late Friday night — early Saturday morning in Africa. Just after midnight in New York, her entire account vanished.
The damage may have already been done as her company has described her action as offensive.
“This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC,” said the company, which is operated by billionaire media executive Barry Diller. Noting it had been unable to reach the in-flight “employee in question,” the statement continued, “This is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.”
Justine’s firm, IAC, is a leading media and Internet company focused in the core areas of search, applications, online dating, local and media. Ranked by Fortune magazine’s annual standing of the world’s most admired companies in the Internet Services & Retailing sector for many years, IAC’s network of sites has over a billion total monthly visits in more than 100 countries and is the 7th largest network in the world.
Paul Adepoju
