Who is John Demsey? Estee Lauder executive fired from $10M job for posting N-word meme
A senior executive with Estee Lauder was fired from his high-salary job for sharing an offensive meme on Instagram with the N-word. John Demsey, 65, had worked at Estee Lauder for more than 31 years. He was in charge of handling MAC and Clinique, two of the biggest cosmetics brands of the company. However, he recently landed in controversy after sharing a joke on Covid that contained the racial slur.
Demsey landed in a controversy after he shared a mock children's book cover which showed the characters from Sesame Street, who appeared to be joking about Covid. Big Bird was spotted at the bedside of Mr Snuffleupagus, who had a thermometer in his mouth. The title of the fake book read, "My [N-word] Snuffy done got the 'rona at a Chingy concert." The reference to Missouri rapper Chingy was unclear, though the artist later responded to the controversy.
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Amid the growing public pressure to remove Demsey, Estee Lauder terminated him from his $10 million a year job. In a public statement, the company said, "Today, John Demsey, Executive Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies, was informed he must leave the company, effective this week."
The statement added, "'This decision is the result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of The Estée Lauder Companies, have caused widespread offense, are damaging to our efforts to drive inclusivity both inside and outside our walls, and do not reflect the judgment we expect of our leaders."
Demsey later took down the post and also issued an elaborate apology statement. "I am terribly sorry and deeply ashamed that I hurt so many people when I made the terrible mistake of carelessly reposting a racist meme without reading it beforehand. There are not enough words to express my remorse and sorrow."
He apologized to his 74,000 followers, saying, "Not only did I hurt many people whom I respect, the terrible mistake that I made has undermined everything I have been working for since I began my career 31 years ago. The meme is the furthest thing from what I stand for and I should have never reposted it."
While Demsey was called out by netizens for perpetuating a racist joke, rapper Chingy appeared to have taken it in stride. In fact, he responded to Demsey saying he did not find his intention racist.
"I’m CHINGY who you wurr speaking of and I didn’t take it a way at all. Matter fact I can tell you wurr jus trying to be hip like the kids today an it just came out the wrong way. I didn’t see it as being a racial slurr ethier my brother. I love you guys products always have and I hope you keep yurr job my man," he noted in an Instagram post.
