Woman Ashamed After Racial AIDS Tweet Offends South Africans

Justine Sacco, who is a communication director and high profile PR executive said she was ashamed after posting a racial slur on twitter: Her Twitter post said, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white," ABC News reported.

"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 apologized in a South African newspaper. She also said she was sorry for the tweet.

She tweeted the comments on her way to Africa before boarding a plane from London. Sacco works for InterActive Corp, an Internet firm that manages Match.com, Vimeo and Dictionary.com. She was later fired from her job for posting the racial comments on Twitter.

Sacco was quoted by ABC News as saying, "it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet." She added, "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.

The apology covered the points one would expect from a PR memo as Sacco continued to express her regret: "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."

Sacco reiterated, "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."