Fired for racist Facebook remarks

yebocan

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Johannesburg - Vivienne Basson was fired from her job on Tuesday after posting racist remarks on her Facebook account.

The 43-year-old, who worked as a project manager for Ericsson South Africa, put up a status saying: “Effing k***** taxi. And once again I vote for the death penalty. These savages don’t deserve to live. But more importantly Daniel is alive and I am alive. They can rot in hell.”

Attached to the status update were three pictures of her silver car with a dent in the bumper.

A screen shot of the post went viral and enraged many Twitter users.

After the negative backlash, which included outraged tweets to her employer, Basson put up another post in which she apologised for her “unnecessary and hurtful remarks”.

“My intention was not to be insensitive nor derogatory.”

Basson then attempted to explain her remarks in a follow-up post.

“During the course of one year almost to the day, my son and I have been victims of two forceful hit-and-run taxi accidents + unlawful entry into our home with robbery of all our valuables + aggressive physical armed assault, where we (were) shot at, at point blank range.”

Disgusted at Basson’s statements, Twitter user @mandisi87 said: “Hlaudi Motsoeneng first person to pray for should be Vivienne Catherine Basson. These Nazi-style utterances shouldn’t be allowed in RSA.”

Her sentiments were echoed by @Uhnkle: “Have no idea who Vivienne Catherine Basson is but there are MANY others like her. Too many.”

Basson asked people to walk in her shoes before they pontificated. She said she was not a racist and knew the difference between “a good person and a savage”.

The @ericsson Twitter account trended all around the country as Twitter users demanded Basson be fired immediately for her discriminatory and racist remarks.

Ericsson responded on the microblogging site, saying: “We appreciate all your comments. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination and are investigating the matter.”

A few hours later, they followed up on the tweet, saying: “The subcontractor in question has breached our code of ethics and is no longer working for us.”

Basson’s situation mirrors South African-born, US-based PR executive Justine Sacco’s faux pas. She was fired from IAC, a leading media company, after she caused a Twitter storm by tweeting: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get Aids. Just kidding. I’m white.” - The Star




http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/techno...acist-facebook-remarks-1.1673324#.U0UTT_mSzXp
 
This could get interesting in the labour court if you ask me...

The post was made in her personal capacity... so could get tricky for Ericsson to fire her as they have.
 
Facebook is turning people into muppets.
What would make this lady think spurting racist comments on a public forum is right?
 
I have no issue with this. I do have issue with the outrage not being equal when the racist remarks stem from blacks.
 
Facebook is turning people into muppets.
What would make this lady think spurting racist comments on a public forum is right?

The naive thought that two wrongs make a right perhaps? Daily I am exposed to hateful, anti-white sentiments on Twitter. Luckily not as FB as your circles tend to be more intimate on there. Yet there is rarely any outrage to these hateful comments. Double standard shown.
 
How cute. She thinks she's under fire for using the word savage. :D

Half of the regular CA posters should've been fired by now. :D

This could get interesting in the labour court if you ask me...

The post was made in her personal capacity... so could get tricky for Ericsson to fire her as they have.

Indeed. Makes me think of the Mozilla CEO's case. He donated money in his personal capacity.
 
This could get interesting in the labour court if you ask me...

The post was made in her personal capacity... so could get tricky for Ericsson to fire her as they have.
I was at a workshop once where the labour people told us a company can easily fire you for bringing the company into disrepute by the mere fact that you are associated with the company in a case like this.
 
I was at a workshop once where the labour people told us a company can easily fire you for bringing the company into disrepute by the mere fact that you are associated with the company in a case like this.

Unless that clause is in the contract, then I would question the legality of that statement.
 
I know a guy who got into big trouble at work updating his Facebook status as: Mugabe se <censored>
 
I know a guy who got into big trouble at work updating his Facebook status as: Mugabe se <censored>

Did he do it during work hours on a work PC?

If not, then I'd tell the company to get knotted, unless I was a public representative of the company and known as such.
 
Eish... I've screamed worse things out of my car at taxis. Zuma blames white people all the time, don't see him getting fired.
 
Did he do it during work hours on a work PC?

If not, then I'd tell the company to get knotted, unless I was a public representative of the company and known as such.

Yep, SA-based production company, don't know all the details. This guy however is a white Zimbabwean (or in his case Rhodesian).
 
I think it's wrong for her to be fired and judged so quickly. She is an idiot for using the words that she did, yes, but it had no bearing on her company and it was said out of anger, not to victimise or harm an individual. She can be stupid and forget how harmful some words can be to others, but the correct solution is not to retaliate and damage her life in return because some people on Twitter have no lives of their own.

This online-vigilantism is becoming a haven for psychopaths who think it's an acceptable release and place to victimise people
 
She's clutching at straws, it takes a lot more effort to write Facebook post than act like it accidentally slipped out of her mouth.
 
Anyone that uses that word in a public forum will get into trouble.
Good on Ericsson for firing her, I dont think her colleagues would approve of working with her.
 
Disgusted at Basson’s statements, Twitter user @mandisi87 said: “Hlaudi Motsoeneng first person to pray for should be Vivienne Catherine Basson.

Who the f*** is this guy?
 
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