Update | PR exec resigns from jewellery giant Chow Tai Fook after comments mocking Occupy sex assault
Jewellery company distances itself from deputy PR chief's inflammatory social media comments, says resignation effective immediately on Monday
Chow Tai Fook, the world’s largest jewellery chain, said on Monday morning that a senior public relations executive had resigned from the company after she posted inflammatory comments on social media about victims of violence and sexual assault in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
The company reiterated that the social media posts in question, by its deputy head of public relations Joanna Kot, were not representative of Chow Tai Fook views.
“We issued a statement of clarification already. We hope the public would know that the personal views of a staff member do not represent our opinion or our stance. We do not agree or approve of what was posted that Facebook account.” The company accepted Kot's resignation on Monday and it went into effect immediately, a spokeswoman told the South China Morning Post.
Kot, who has worked at Chow Tai Fook for two years and eight months as the deputy head of public relations and media according to her now-deleted LinkedIn profile, mocked those who were beaten or molested by anti-Occupy crowds as protests continued to rock the city’s downtown districts in posts on her Facebook page on Saturday evening.
“Assaulted? It’s late by a few days already! You all saw it! If there’s a problem, you [protesters] want the police, if there’s no problem you say they are bad guys. If you’re all that, then leave by yourself. Citizens of Mong Kok are only repaying you in the same way.”
In another post regarding a female student protester who had been indecently attacked, she wrote: “Molested? Remember not to report to the police; revolution requires sacrifice, fighting for democracy is above the law.