On Dec. 20, 2013 New York based PR executive enraged Twitter users around the world as she posted a racist tweet about Africa and AIDS. Justine Sacco became a trending topic on Twitter as it led to a frenzy of outraged reactions on the popular social networking and microblogging site.

Former InterActive Corp. (IAC) Communications Director Justin Sacco was in a flight to South Africa, when she tweeted a racist remark from her Twitter account @JustineSacco: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"

The outrageously racist tweet sparked a controversy and a revolt of sorts with the trending hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet. Ever since people started reacting to Justine Sacco's tweet, her Twitter account has reportedly been deleted from the social networking site.

The tweet quickly went viral. It was tweeted about 3,000 times and soon the hashtag became a #1worldwide trend on Twitter.

Justine Sacco's Racist Tweet on Twitter Evokes Outraged Reactions by Stars and Twitter Users

PR Executive Justine Sacco's racist tweet on Twitter was widely viewed and it disgusted many readers. Twitter users and celebs instantly started to tweet to express their revulsion and anger. Some of the tweets read:

Piers Morgan tweeted: "I think someone's been sent to the naughty chair... @justinesacco"

Anthony Bourdain tweeted: "I think Peggy Noonan and Justine Sacco are sitting together in business class."

Another outraged twitter user tweeted: "If @JustineSacco ends up stranded in Africa, I promise I will laugh until I see each one of Jesus Christ's holy dreads"

Digiday.com listed Justine Sacco's racist tweet as one of its worst media tweets of 2013.

Consequences of Justine Sacco's Racist Tweet

Justine did not respond to her outrageously racist tweet until she issued an official statement that was released the South African newspaper The Star.

"My greatest concern was this statement reach South Africa first. Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet. There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand. For being insensitive to this crisis -- which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly -- and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed," read Sacco's statement on The Star, which appears in a report from the Daily Mail.

The irony of Sacco's racist tweet is that, her father reportedly migrated to the U.S. from Cape Town, South Africa in 1994 to escape Apartheid and racism in the country.

Based on the report by Daily Mail, following the tweets of Zac_R, Justine Sacco's father is also critical of her racist remarks. The tweet read: "Justine's dad is apologetic & basically in tears. 'I decided to raise her in the US. SA was too racist'. Oh, the irony!"

"I'm so incredibly ashamed of her. She's a f****** idiot," read another tweet from the same account.

"Justine's dad isnt (outwardly) racist. He stopped to have a chat with me. "she better know she'll be paying for this!" tweeted Zac_R.

IAC is a renowned company in its field and owns brands like Match.com, Vimeo.com and more. They released a statement which intimated that Justine Sacco has been dismissed from the company.

Justine Sacco is being widely criticized not only for her racist tweet about Africa and AIDS on Twitter but also for her other previous tweets. Read some of the controversial tweets of former IAC PR exec Justine Sacco on Twitter as listed by Buzzfeed.com. Her tweet has been reported as the worst tweet of the year by many sites.