PR executive Justine Sacco posts an 'outrageous, offensive' joke on Twitter before boarding a plane

A PUBLIC relations professional has deleted her Twitter account after posting an incredibly offensive comment oveight.

Justine Sacco, who works for media company IAC, sent out her tweet to more than 4300 followers as she boarded a plane for South Africa from London's Heathrow Airport, according to Valleywag.

"Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" she tweeted.

The tweet quickly went viral and a representative from IAC (which is the parent company of Vimeo, Tinder and About.com and many more) released a statement condemning Sacco's joke.

"This is an outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, the employee in question is unreachable on an inteational flight, but this is a very serious matter, and we are taking appropriate action."

Justine Sacco’s tweet that caused an inteational uproar. Source: Twitter

Speculation is rife that she may have already been fired by the IAC, who have also removed any mention of her name from its website and contacts page.

She was earlier listed as a media representative.

@JustineSacco last tweet of your career. #SorryNotSorry — Zach Sang (@ZachSang1) December 20, 2013

Meanwhile, the URL justinesacco.com has been redirected to an Aid for Africa website, stipulating where the public can make donations to its HIV/AIDS support program.

There is some speculation that the PR exec's twitter account may have been hacked, but Valleywag writer Sam Biddle doubts that's the case.

There she goes again... Source: Twitter

"That's harder to pull off when you can see the tweet came from your phone," Biddle wrote.

The tweet had been retweeted more than 3500 times and had more than 1700 favourites before it was deleted at approximately 7a.m. Cape Town time, at the same time her flight from London was scheduled to land.

Sacco has reportedly now landed in South Africa, with Twitter user @Zac_R posting pictures of her and family members on the social media site.

Yup. @JustineSacco HAS in fact landed at Cape Town inteational. She's decided to wear sunnies as a disguise. pic.twitter.com/2I3WZQCIci — Zac (@Zac_R) December 21, 2013

He said he was not a joualist, just a local that lived near the airport and "had to see if it was real".

He tweeted that he didn't believe Sacco was a "horrible person", just someone that "joked about something that should never be joked about".

"Let's not get consumed by mob mentality and run her name through the mud. Rather focus on the subject she joked about. Not the tweet," he wrote.

He also described chatting with her father "for a few minutes", who did not seem "outwardly racist".

Her Twitter account @JustineSacco may have vanished but it was quickly replaced with a number of fake accounts with similar spellings, including @JustineSaccco and @lolJustineSacco.

The hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet also quickly climbed to the top of Twitter's trending topics.

This #hasjustinelandedyet landing will outshine the Apollo 13 moon landing as the most watched landing of a human. — Tom Makau (@tommakau) December 21, 2013

This isn't the first offensive tweet Sacco has posted online. In fact Sacco has made a number of inteationally epic gaffes.

Just Friday, upon landing in London, she posted, "Chili- cucumber sandwiches- bad teeth. Back in London!"Only the day before she wrote, "Weird German Dude: You're in first class. It's 2014. Get some deodorant."

Next time you plan to tweet something stupid before you take off, make sure you are getting on a @Gogo flight! CC: @JustineSacco — Gogo (@Gogo) December 21, 2013

Another in January went, "I can't be fired for things I say while intoxicated right?"

Her Twitter bio of the deleted account read "CorpComms at IAC. Troublemaker on the side. Also known for my loud laugh."