The Chingy Meme That Made An Estée Lauder Executive John Demsey Step Down Today Had Nothing To Do With The Coronavirus But Did Use The N-Word

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.

Estee Lauder senior executive John Demsey has been fired after posting this meme on his Instagram.

He was making nearly $10M a year.

He's posted an apology saying he "didn't read it before posting" pic.twitter.com/kCoIwN2n98

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) February 28, 2022

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.

Lost $10 million a year to post some unfunny racism.

— Cipher of the Golden Spatula (@snarkylicious) February 28, 2022

Getting fired on the last day of Black History Month for some racist shit though 😀🤭 pic.twitter.com/6chIUy6oXO

— Effie We All Got Pain🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦 (@yyz_one) February 28, 2022

Imagine making $10m and all you have to do is not post stupid shit online. And you can't meet that performance metric.

— 🇺🇦Terminate and Stay Resident (@TermStayRes) February 28, 2022

$10,000,000 a year down the hole over CHINGY 😂😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😂😂😂 I can’t breathe https://t.co/kk8qJe8Ros

— Freddie HotSpot (@HeavyFarda) February 28, 2022

“The plan is to get an Estee Lauder senior executive fired from a job that pays $10 million a year. But first, we’ll need a Chingy meme.” pic.twitter.com/y6KXssgKFI

— Ryan Day (@ryaneatscake) February 28, 2022

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.

When I made this meme about ChingyFulldekk</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/sesamestreet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">sesamestreet, I had no idea I'd get @EsteeLauder's John Dempsey suspended but here we are. #johndempsey #EsteeLauder #chingy #sesamestreet pic.twitter.com/qOESLsFZZV

— Chris Taliaferro (@ECTaliaferro) February 25, 2022

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.

Me to Chingy who had no business being in that tired ass meme: pic.twitter.com/IiOErcVvZ4

— 𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑜’𝑠 𝐴𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒 🐱💚🌿✨ (@MadamZeti) February 28, 2022

I know he don't know who Chingy is 😂😂😂😂. What a moron https://t.co/jR3PqV4mel

— We Miss You Ash (@ShellzJG88) February 28, 2022

Chingy: pic.twitter.com/4Rg5zGh6nv

— The Morally Corrupt Tay Resnick (@SweetTayPie0104) February 28, 2022