Justine Sacco Is Back
Justine has landed on her feet: despite uniting a large portion of our planet's population in communal fury, the world's most infamous PR rep is now re-employed. There is truly nothing impossible in this modern age.
Nothing impossible, at least, if you're responsible for a world historical schadenfreude orgasm and found a benefactor desperate for marketing attention of any kind. BuzzFeed reports that Sacco, who apparently spent the last month hiding in Ethiopia after infuriating our species with an idiotic AIDS joke, is now a "marketing and promotion" director at Hot Or Not. How perfect! Two lousy has-beens, gunning for a comeback together:
To help with the marketing and promotion of Hot or Not's relaunch, [Russian entrepreneur Andrey] Andreev has hired Justine Sacco, the former communications director for [Barry] Diller's IAC who was fired in December after posting a controversial tweet about race, AIDS, and Africa that received worldwide attention and spawned the "Has Justine Landed Yet" meme. Sacco quickly apologized for the tweet and lived in Ethiopia for the month of March doing volunteer consulting for a non-government organization before being hired by Andreev, she said. Prior to being fired from IAC, she worked closely with Match.com chairman Greg Blatt and CEO Sam Yagan on strategy and communications.
Just imagine the pitch: Remember Hot Or Not? That website from high school? OK, now remember the woman on the plane, she said that fucked up thing about Africa? They're back, and they're back TOGETHER.
The move is doubly scandalous, if you consider minor software rivalries scandalous, because the relaunched Hot Or Not will compete directly with mobile dating properties like Tinder and OkCupid, both owned by IAC, Sacco's former employer.
I rate this publicity cash-in a "Not," but the idea that anyone can get a second chance gets a reluctant "Hot."