Estée Lauder fires executive John Demsey
The executive oversees a portfolio of the cosmetics company’s brands including MAC, Clinique
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Estée Lauder Cos. has fired John Demsey, a senior executive who last week posted a meme on his personal Instagram account that contained a racial slur and a joke about Covid-19.
The company announced his exit Monday morning in a memo to staff that was posted to the cosmetics company’s website shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported on his termination.
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Mr. Demsey served as executive group president and oversaw some of the company’s biggest brands including MAC and Clinique. He had been with the company 31 years.
John Demsey attends the 2019 WWD Beauty Inc Awards at The Rainbow Room on December 11, 2019 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"The decision is a result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of The Estee 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," the company said its memo.
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A meme posted last week to Mr. Demsey’s Instagram account pictured a spoof book cover of the children’s TV show "Sesame Street." The post, which contained the N-word with some letters replaced with asterisks, no longer appears on Mr. Demsey’s account.
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Mr. Demsey apologized last week, calling the meme racist, on an Instagram post, saying he was "terribly sorry and deeply ashamed,’ and that he didn’t read the meme before posting it. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Monday.