A controversial tweet about newly crowned Rio 2016 Olympic Games 110m hurdles champion, Omar McLeod, has led to the dismissal of an employee of a major Jamaican company.
The tweet in question was made towards McLeod by Lasco Distributors Limited’s twitter handle.
The Arkansas student ran 13.05 to win Jamaica’s first ever global gold medal in the event.
The tweet was followed by heavy backlash on the social media, and the company have said that they issued “sincerest apologies to Mr Omar McLeod.”
The company also said they are “offended by such utterances which are a clear breach of our own values.”
See the full release:
“Earlier this evening (Tuesday) an unauthorised and offensive tweet was posted via our company account.
“We wish to sincerely apologise to our fans, friends, customers, consumers, partners, Jamaicans and everyone for this terrible act,”
“Most importantly, we issue our sincerest apologies to Mr Omar McLeod.”
‘The Lasco Affiliated Companies are offended by such utterances which are a clear breach of our own values”.
“Consequently, we have removed the tweet and de-activated the account. Further, we have terminated the employee who posted the tweet, as this action was a violation of our code of conduct,” the release continued.
We, at Lasco, have the utmost respect for the remarkable achievement of Omar McLeod. We congratulate him on his gold medal victory in the Men’s 110m Hurdles Olympic event.
“We deeply regret any embarrassment or displeasure caused by the post and again offer our sincerest apologies.”
