Justine Sacco apologizes for offensive AIDS tweet after being fired

Justine Sacco, the PR Exec at InterActiveCorp, who tweeted "Going to Africa, hope I don't get AIDS' has issued a statement, apologizing for making the racist Tweet. She issued the statement today to South African paper, The Star, a day after she was fired by IAC. The apology below...

“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. 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.

"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.

"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.”