NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A former U.S. public relations executive apologized for a flippant Twitter tweet about AIDS in Africa.
Justine Sacco said she apologized to the people of South Africa for writing: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" to her Twitter followers as she embarked on a holiday vacation to the nation.
The remarks resulted in her being quickly fired by InterActive Corp., the parent company of Match.com and other popular Websites.
Sacco, whose approximately 500 Twitter followers included various media outlets, said Sunday she was sorry for "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," Sacco told ABC News. "Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand."
Sacco, who is white, said she was actually born in South Africa and her remarks were not intended to have a racial overtone.
