Publicis Groupe has fired an employee for remarks she made about Black Lives Matter protesters.
Stephanie Camello appears to have been the author of a tweet calling for the LAPD to “USE HEAVY FORCE!” in response to protests against police brutality and racism, and expressing the wish that the LAPD could “just do one firing range or just kill one person and the rest will scatter like rats.”
The Twitter account associated with the tweet, @StephCamello, has since been deleted. Camello currently lists her employer only as “advertising agencies” on LinkedIn. Sources told AgencySpy that Camello moved along with the Disney account from Dentsu Aegis Network’s Carat to Publicis Media late last year. Here’s a screengrab of the offending tweet sent Friday, May 29:
Publicis fired Camello from her role as a data analyst shortly after learning of the offensive remarks, determining that such comments violated company values and ethics, sources with knowledge of the situation told Adweek. Just two days after the offending tweet, Publicis Groupe tweeted that she was no longer employed by the company and that Publicis Groupe does “not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind.”
As a company built on our Viva La Difference heritage, we do not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind. This employee is no longer with the company.
— Publicis Groupe (@PublicisGroupe) May 31, 2020
Publicis Groupe echoed these exact sentiments in a statement to AgencySpy today. AgencySpy reached out to Camello for comment via LinkedIn, but she has yet to respond as of publication time.