A PR guru has said sorry for saying his firm did not recruit “blacks, gays or Catholics”.
Monaco-based Gordon Beattie insisted he did not mean any offence and was only trying to underline his firm’s industry-leading diversity credentials.
But the Beattie Media chairman was forced to take down his post on social media platform Linkedin and apologised to those who had been upset.
The row began last Friday, when Beattie wrote online: “At Beattie Communications, we don’t hire blacks, gays or Catholics.
“We sign talented people and we don’t care about the colour of their skin, sexual orientation or religion. That’s the way it should be with every company – only hire people for their talent, experience, knowledge and wisdom.”
Yesterday, Beattie posted: “On Friday, I issued a post on LinkedIn to highlight the fact that when we recruit, Beattie Communications does not discriminate. It was posted with the best of intent but I have now removed it because the language I used has caused offence and for that, I am deeply sorry.”
But fellow businessman David Mains said: “You chose those words to get attention. You got that – and the condemnation those words deserved, followed.”
Fellow communications expert Stef Lach said: “Quite stunning that a communications professional could be so wide of the mark with an attempt at communicating.”
Beattie was not available for comment.
