Home Depot has fired an outside agency that created what it called a “stupid and offensive” ESPN College GameDay photo tweet that featured two African-Americans and an individual dressed as a monkey, with two beating drums.
“Which drummer is not like the others?” the tweet asked before being pulled Thursday from the Atlanta-based home improvement company’s main Twitter account.
Home Depot did not reveal the name of the marketing agency that created the tweet, but it did say the company associate who posted it also was terminated.
Home Depot is a major sponsor of the ESPN broadcast, which reports on and provides predictions about college football games. The show is officially known as College GameDay built by The Home Depot.
“We have zero tolerance for anything so stupid and offensive,” the company said about the tweet.
The two unidentified men in the photo were dressed in Home Depot orange shirts and the individual in the monkey disguise was dressed in orange coveralls. Two of the three were sitting on and beating on orange buckets with the words “Let’s do this.”
The company said it is still trying to determine how the photo ended up being tweeted.
“We’re also closely reviewing our social media procedures to determine how this could have happened, and how to ensure it never happens again,” the statement released by spokesman Stephen Holmes said.
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