Home Depot Racist Tweet Draws Ire, Company Apologizes
Home Depot issued an apology for an offensive post made to Twitter on the company website on Thursday.
The tweet, largely interpreted as clearly racist, featured a photo of two African-American drummers sitting with a gorilla-masked drummer between them.
"Which drummer is not like the others? See more @collegegamedaypics at #HDGAMEEDAY.com #HDGAMEDAY #FOOTBALL," read the tweet.
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Shortly thereafter, the Twitter post was deleted, but not before several Twitter users were outraged.
"When I first saw this, I thought it was fake," wrote GlobalGrind Editor Michael Skolnik. "Turns out, it's not. Home Depot, wow. They have apologized, but…"
Furthermore, the tweet caught the attention of the NAACP before Home Depot apologized, and the company called the post "dumb."
"@OfficiallyIce @NAACP We are deeply sorry for the dumb tweet and have deleted it," Home Depot posted to the social media site.
However, the controversy did not end there. Home Depot has since announced that is ended their relationship with the unknown employee handling their social media account, and that they are rethinking their social media presence.
"We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive," the company wrote on Nov. 7. "Deeply sorry. We terminated agency and individual who posted it."
Although Home Depot is not naming the person or firm responsible for the tweet, they are reviewing internal policies, according to NBC.
"We're also closely reviewing out social media procedures to determine how this could have happened, and how to ensure it never happens again," the company said.
Meanwhile, some Twitter user are taking the Twitter mishap a little lighter, joking about the offensive content.
For example, Roy Wood Jr posted, "Yo @HomeDepot Im tweeting you on the behalf of Al Sharpton and all black ppl. We would all like a free gallon of paint to make this right."
