InterActiveCorp runs some of best known sites on the Internet, such as Ask.com , About.com, Match.com and others. Justine Sacco, who was the top PR person for InterActiveCorp, was terminated on Friday for a tweet she made as she boarded a plane bound for Africa… The last tweet of her career with IAC. The tweet read,
“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”
Spawning a flurry of reaction on Twitter, InterActiveCorp was unable to reach Sacco, as she was on a 20 hour flight. Regardless, the company issues a statement reacting to the tweet. “This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC…”
While the story itself is shocking, there is a bit of domaining justice. It appears that someone has registered JustineSacco.com and the domain points to “Aid for Africa” with the fitting title ” JustineSacco.com | not associated with Aid for Africa; but you should be.”
Hopefully, Justine’s poor judgement will result in some awareness of the cause she was mocking.