Estée Lauder senior executive John Demsey is unemployed this week after posting a racist meme on his personal Instagram account.
Demsey, the executive group president of the cosmetics group who has been with the company for almost 30 years, shared a meme depicting Sesame Street characters that used the N-word to tell a joke about COVID-19. The meme was deleted after widespread outrage. He replaced it with an apology post, explaining that he had not thoroughly read the words before posting the image.
“I am terribly sorry and deeply ashamed that I hurt so many people when I made the horrible mistake of carelessly reposting a racist meme without reading it beforehand,” he wrote in his apology. His comments were flooded with support from people who have known him for years and others who follow him on IG and enjoy his “whitty” content, as one user described it.
However, it was not enough to save him from a premature exit. The beauty brand released a statement, slamming Demsey for his actions. They stressed that the offensive Instagram post does not “reflect the values of the Estée Lauder Companies.”
“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 added.
While many reports stated Demsey was terminated, a spokesperson for the company clarified that “John was not fired. He was told he had to leave the company and is retiring this week.”
Estee Lauder senior executive John Demsey has been fired after posting this meme on his Instagram.
He was making nearly $10M a year.
He's posted an apology saying he "didn't read it before posting" pic.twitter.com/kCoIwN2n98
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) February 28, 2022
Chingy got word he was trending on social media as a result of the meme and responded Mondy night on Instagram saying he’s just been hanging out with his daughter after recently returning from a military tour.
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