"Going To Africa. Hope I don't Get AIDS. Just Kidding. I'm White," Gets Woman Fired

Justine Sacco

InterActive Corp fires employee after Twitter posted comment viewed a racist, hateful and harmful to aids victims in Africa.

By H. Nelson Goodson

December 23, 2013

On Friday, Justine Sacco, a former public relations representative employee for InterActive Corp. was fired after she tweeted, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm White!" The employer condemned her posted statement as hateful and decided to terminated her after the tweeted statement went viral. Sacco's Twitter account has since been deleted, but several fake accounts have poped up, including a Facebook account asking for donations, since she's unemployed.

Sacco, who resides in NY, NY tweeted racist her post while she boarded a Gogo flight to Cape Town, South Africa and was in mid-flight when it went viral and no internet access was available during the flight.

On Saturday, a Sacco Facebook (FB) account stated, "I made a huge stupidity, I deeply apologize. Away from me a racist idea, it was just for laughs — in Cape Town, South Africa." This Sacco FB account could not be confirmed, if it was actually Sacco who posted the comment at 5:47 a.m. South Africa time.

Sacco is originally from Hillingdon, Slough, United Kingdom, according to FB.