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The Estée Lauder Companies announced earlier this week that it has removed senior executive John Demsey from his job post. The decision to oust him came less than a week after he was suspended due to his social media containing a racial slur.
As reported by Reuters, the Estée Lauder executive posted an image of a parody of a book cover featuring the "Sesame Street," a children's show. The picture was said to have the N-word with some of its letters substituted with asterisks.
Although Demsey's post has since been deleted on his Instagram page with more than 74,000 followers, furious reactions from people have continued. As a result, he was suspended by Estée Lauder, and the executive also posted a public apology late last week.
"I am terribly sorry and deeply ashamed that I hurt so many people when I made the horrible mistake of carelessly reposting a racist meme without reading it beforehand. There are not enough words to express my remorse and sorrow," Demsey wrote. "The meme is the furthest thing from what I stand for and I should have never reposted it."
He added that he is hoping that in time people will not judge him for his awful mistake but for his lifetime of words and actions that demonstrate his respect for all people. In any case, as he leaves Estee Lauder, the company's spokesperson clarified that John Demsey was not fired but retired under pressure from the firm.
"John was not fired," the rep told The New York Post. "He was told he had to leave the company and agreed to retire this week."
The makeup company also released a separate note to employees explaining Demsey's departure. They said the decision to retire him was due to his recent Instagram posts that do not reflect Estee Lauder Companies' values.
Finally, the firm noted that Demsey's post has caused widespread offense that is damaging to the company's efforts to drive inclusivity "both inside and outside our walls." Estee Lauder went on to say that the post does not mirror the judgment it expects from its leaders.
