A young woman is now unemployed almost immediately after posting a very racist tweet on her Twitter page.
Erika Escalante, 20, a Texas native, was a paid intern at Isagenix, a health company located in Arizona, until this week. On Sunday she took to social media to post a picture of herself and a friend in a cotton field with the caption, “Our inner n****** came out today.”
Twitter users became outraged. Escalante quickly went back and deleted the tweet but not before it had been read and screenshotted by many Twitter users.
“I deleted it, but it was much too late,” she said in an interview.
Several users even brought it to the company’s attention directly via Twitter and provided Isagenix with screenshots of the tweet in question.
“Excuse me @isagenix do you know that your intern @Eri82195 is usually racially offensive words & images online” read one tweet.
“@isagenix are you aware that ur (sic) intern Erika Escalante is being extremely offensive online” questioned another.
Meanwhile, Escalante has issued subsequent apologies, as has become routine from those responsible when their offensive postings go viral on the Internet. “I apologize fully, I take full responsibility for what I have done, it’s just not ok,” said Escalante, who insisted that she knew better and that the whole thing was “a joke” and “a lack of my better judgment.” “I am sorry if you took this to heart, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean it at all, it was a mistake, that’s all I can say,” she said.
Escalante has been fired following a racist tweet she posted over the weekend.
It has become all too common in social media mishaps for people to say what they posted was “a mistake” or “joke.” Of course, the truth is that they were not sorry until they were caught by millions of other social media users or, in this case, out of a job. The initial reaction is, of course, that she should not have posted the tweet to begin with. A more interesting and positive takeaway from this instance, though, is Isagenix’s swift and appropriate handling of the situation. Isagenix wasted absolutely no time. Within mere hours of Escalante’s original post, the health company responded to the incident on its Twitter and Facebook accounts to announce that Escalante had been fired from her internship.
We too find this tweet offensive & we are shocked. This does not reflect our values & culture. The intern is no longer with us. Isagenix (@isagenix) October 26, 2015
“We are shocked and outraged by the actions of one of our interns this past weekend. Her actions and social media posts do not reflect the values we hold so dearly,” the company’s Facebook post read. “Effective immediately, she is no longer associated with us. We are committed to a world that respects all cultures and we welcome anyone who seeks to join us in making our world a healthier place to live.” Many people were impressed by Isagenix’s quick actions. Twitter users praised the health company for not hesitating in its decision.
@isagenix Respect Marvelous Dub (@MarvD_) October 26, 2015
Clap, clap, bravo to @isagenix for the bold move though. Standing up for what’s right is rarely a trait seen in a company. #ErikaEscalante Aunt Helen (@MissAOmar) October 29, 2015
Escalante has since taken down her Twitter account. An account with a similar handle popped up not long after the incident and began posting a series of additional tweets, but Escalante confirmed to Fox 10 that the account does not belong to her.
