Justine Sacco, PR executive for IAC, was fired from the company after her Twitter post about AIDS sparked Internet backlash.
"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white," Sacco's infamous tweet read.
The former IAC employee released the following statement to ABC News about her the post that caused her to lose her job:
"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," Sacco said in the statement. "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," she said.
Sacco goes on to reveal she was born in South Africa, and apologizes for the "pain" she has caused. Since the tweet went viral, the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet began trending inciting the following tweets:
If only @LOLJustineSacco had Whoopi Goldberg on flight, bc I'm pretty sure this would occur: #HasJustineLandedYet pic.twitter.com/1ZNIziJyct
— John Jdol (@JohnJdol) December 21, 2013
It only took 12 words to end Justine Sacco's career INDEFINITELY. Be careful on Twitter kids! #HasJustineLandedYet pic.twitter.com/i9K3DHqTg9 — Sizwe Ndlovu (@SizweNdlovu) December 21, 2013
When flight lands and #JustineSacco turns on her wifi. #HasJustineLandedYet pic.twitter.com/Wv40gJ065b — Charles Thorp (@charlesthorp) December 21, 2013
According to ABC, many argued Sacco should have "known better" than to post such a comment because of the field she works in.
However, her comment did bring awareness to aids. A parody Twitter account called @LOLJustineSacco (which was suspended) linked to www.justinesacco.com. The website takes you to a list of AIDS charities and organizations one can donate.
"There's a fine line between slamming Sacco for her blatant what-guys-I-was-just-kidding buffoonery, and taking an unconscionable delight in the misfortune of others while playing Big Brother on their lives," Mashable write Chris Taylor wrote in an OP-ED piece for the site. "Quite apart from anything else, that sort of attention may play into the worst tendencies of someone who would write that. It grants her notoriety, maybe even a career in news channel punditry. She can pour out an apology to Barbara Walters."
