Home depot is scrambling after somebody on its staff, or on its marketing agency staff, posted the picture featured as this article’s main photo, showing three men drumming, two black men, a third wearing an ape mask, and asking inanely, “Which drummer is not like the others?” Apparently the humor of the post was to suggest that black people look apelike, not something Home Depot wants associated with their agency, and which they quickly took down and apologized for.
“We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive,” Home Depot tweeted.
“We’re also closely reviewing our social media procedure to determine how this could have happened and how to ensure it never happens again,” as Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes said to The Huffington Post. They have also copy/pasted their apology repeatedly to different sources to make clear that the joke that somebody on their payroll made does not represent the values of the company, and that further, that their relationship with this person and agency has also been terminated.
It’s not the first time. With something as quick and friction-free as Twitter available, many companies have had to post apologies for the words and actions of somebody trusted who posted something under their charge. KitchenAid, for one, apologized when somebody on their staff posted about Obama’s grandma being fortunately dead so she wouldn’t be around to be disgraced by her grandson, President Barack Obama.