Justine Sacco, who was a communications director of InterActive Corp, a parent company of numerous websites, tweeted the following just before taking off on Friday:
After she caused an international calamity and was handed her pink slip, she issued this apology:
“Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, whom I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet. 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.
“This is my father’s country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused.”
