Know Your Meme

The 'Chingy' Meme That Made An Estée Lauder Executive Step Down Today Had Nothing To Do With The Coronavirus

February 28th, 2022 - 5:34 PM EST by Owen Carry

4 comments

John Demsey, a senior executive at the make-up brand Estée Lauder, stepped down this morning over a racist meme he posted last week that used the N-word and referenced the COVID-19 pandemic with the word "Chingy." Originally posted to his personal Instagram account, Demsey received backlash online despite many users also finding the whole situation humorous, mostly because the meme had nothing to do with the coronavirus.

The Wall Street Journal originally opened the discussion on the story last Friday when Demsey posted and quickly deleted the meme that re-edited a Sesame Street cartoon depicting Big Bird talking to Mr. Snuffleupagus in a hospital bed. The WSJ received an apology statement from Demsey the same day, but it was too late for the story's publicity that snowballed into this week.

After it was tweeted about this morning, Twitter users reacted in large to the news. Some were more deeply offended while others were equally offended but light-hearted about the situation, finding the demise of an executive earning roughly $10 million annually due to a meme humorous. Demsey became the subject of ridicule, where users didn't back down from making fun of him on social media.

The discussion even circled back to the original creator of the meme that Demsey reposted, a Twitter user named Chris Taliaferro. He stated that he originally made the meme about the musician Chingy, not even referencing the Chinese people or the city of Wuhan as some assumed amid the recent story. He was shocked that his image macro had made its way there, dethroning a multi-millionaire over the course of the weekend.

Inherently, some Twitter users knew the meme was referencing the rapper and felt bad for Chingy. The memes continued surrounding this tension, continuing to make the rounds going into March.

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Comments 4 total

William The Brit

Mar 03, 2022 at 08:26AM EST

N***a is not a racist slur, it's two letters and three asterisks.

0

MCC1701

Mar 01, 2022 at 11:37AM EST

Using twitter is truly a "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" situation, so this should be a lesson to everyone to stay off of it.

That said, this guy lost his 10M job for sharing a meme he didn't create with the following:

  • The N-word(assumedly), censored, used in a non-derogatory way.
  • Referencing Covid(though apparently not?)
  • Mentioning a rapper's name which happens to be spelled similarly to China.

Can we all agree yet that ruining people, even out of touch boomers, over perceived racism is a bad idea? Forget he immediately took it down and apologized, it makes no difference.

One other thing that grinds my gears, people going around saying "Cancel culture isn't a thing, no one's actually been canceled, X person is doing okay despite twitter going after them, etc." Having your online presence purged and memory-holed is the point, and being unable to recall it happening after the fact is part of the problem.

-1

Dolan

Mar 01, 2022 at 09:02AM EST

What the hell the 'rona means then if it's not Covid. Don't you mean this meme has nothing to do with the virus Chinese origins?

2

A Concerned Rifleman

Feb 28, 2022 at 08:00PM EST

This is what happens when you let your HR department effectively take control of your executive board.

1

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