Justine Sacco: Racist AIDS Joke Tweeted On Way To Africa, Are We Too Politically Correct?
Justine Sacco’s racist AIDS joke while on a plane trip to Africa has angered the world and inspired the ire of Twitter.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, some called Phil Robertson racist and homophobic, but many others defended his words, even a gay liberal professor.
The argument concerning Justin Sacco’s Twitter tweets largely follows the same logic as the Duck Dynasty controversy. Just because free speech protects your right to say something that doesn’t mean you will not face consequences for your actions. Of course, the major difference is that Phil’s statements were political in nature, and also referenced the Bible directly, while Sacco was just making a bad joke. But some people feel America is becoming too politically correct and that we shouldn’t be calling for people to be fired over every comment we don’t like.
This is what she wrote:
“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”
For someone whose job is public relations with IAC, you’d assume she’d know this was a bad idea. Never mind social media, even saying such a thing in public could result in witnesses quoting you to the world. Of course, she also represents brands like CollegeHumor so perhaps we’re setting the bar too high…
IAC media executive Barry Diller released a statement about Justine Sacco:
“This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC. This is a very serious matter and we are taking appropriate action.”
You’d assume Justine would get Sacco’ed for the Tweet. The offending Tweet has disappeared and the account deleted but the damage has been done. And it’s not like Sacco doesn’t have a history of trying to offend. She once tweeted to PETA: “I like animals, but when it’s this cold out I’ll skin one myself for the fur.”
But IAC couldn’t get hold of Sacco while she was in-flight… and that’s where Twitter comes into play with the trending hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet making fun of the situation. Some enterprising people even set up JustineSacco.com to point to charities that benefit African AIDS victims.
Ironically enough, even some airline companies are using Justine Sacco for some free PR:
http://twitter.com/Gogo/statuses/414238239411945472
Although, some people felt making fun of Sacco for marketing gain was a no-no in of itself:
@DouglasCrets You made our point. With inflight connectivity the full story would have already been out there.
— Gogo (@Gogo) December 21, 2013
Do you think Justine Sacco should be fired from her job for making a personal Tweet unrelated to her job? Or do you believe America is becoming too politically correct and such instances should be ignored?
http://twitter.com/VanitaCasselber/status/414410634025906176
http://twitter.com/P0TUS/status/414410759863418881
http://twitter.com/Joshypls/status/414410534193082368
