A North Carolina car dealership has rightfully received a lot of backlash after posting an offensive Facebook post containing a derogatory term featuring one of their customers.
What should have been an exciting time for Trinity Bethune, 21, turned out to be very disappointing. She purchased her first car Wednesday from Lumberton Honda, but she was shocked at what she saw when she looked on Facebook Thursday.
The dealership posted a photo of Bethune next to her brand new car with a caption that read, “Congratulations to Bon Quisha on her 2016 Toyota Camry.” She responded to the offensive post. “I’m not sure if this is a ‘joke’ or something but my name is definitely Trinity Bethune. I’m very offended by this post, it’s almost a racial slur. If I’m not addressed by MY name then please don’t address me at all,” she wrote.
“The name ‘Bon Quisha’ it seems like a stereotype for someone, you know, for them to be like ghetto,” she said. “It’s something people use towards Black people as a racial slur and as an offensive term.”
Bethune told ABC11 that the post was up for more than an hour before being deleted. It has since been widely circulated across multiple social media platforms.
She told the outlet that she spoke to the dealership owner. He advised Bethune that the employee who made the offensive post had been let go. An apology was posted to the dealership’s Facebook page on Friday.
“Lumberton Honda and our entire staff sincerely apologize and regret the recent inappropriate post towards one of our valued customers,” Lumberton Honda wrote. “The action of this former employee does not represent the views or culture of our company.”
Bethune is mulling whether or not to take legal action.
