Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Estée Lauder fired a senior executive named John Demsey for an offensive Instagram post on his personal account that used a racial slur, which somehow involved Sesame Street and the rapper Chingy. As predicted, another random social media occurrence began trending on Twitter prompting a response from the St. Louis rapper.
Esteé Lauder released a statement to CNN on Monday (Feb. 28) that Demsey’s termination was the “result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of the Estée Lauder Companies,” adding that the post caused “widespread offense.”
The executive has been with the brand for nearly 30 years, and in one ignorant post he is forced to leave his role immediately this week. A replacement for Demsey was not named.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Demsey posted a pastiche book cover resembling that of the popular children’s show Sesame Street on his personal Instagram account. The post used the N-word, replacing some letters with asterisks, but we all know what it means. The post intended to mock Covid-19, which is honestly even worse because coronavirus is no laughing matter. It implied that the Sesame Street character lying in bed caught “the rona” while out at a Chingy concert the night before. How random? Surely, Chingy’s wondering how he got caught up in the madness.
Demsey deleted the offensive post and quickly apologized, writing that he was “terribly sorry and deeply ashamed,” and adding that he didn’t read the “racist meme” before posting it.
Sounds like cap to us, but Estée Lauder wasted no time getting rid of Demsey.
“Our employees, and especially our senior leaders, are accountable to continue driving our progress and to respect the values of this company for the long term,” Estée Lauder said in a statement Monday.
Chingy took to social media to respond after noticing his name was trending on social media yesterday. The rapper posted with his daughter saying, “I didn’t take it to heart.” He also said that he felt Demsey’s post was an honest mistake. Chingy assured fans that he is unbothered and too booked and busy, recently wrapping up a military tour, to be worried about Demsey and Twitter’s nonsense.
Meanwhile, Chingy fans were having a ball on social media. Take a look below:
Gots to be more careful, Demsey.
