Sprint created a bit of controversy this week when the company posted a video online, recorded during one of CEO Marcelo Claure’s “listening tour” stops, in which a woman refers to chief Sprint competitor T-Mobile U.S. as “ghetto.”
In the video, which Sprint has since taken offline, Claure prompts the woman: “I’m gonna tell you a carrier name and I want you to basically tell me what comes to your mind. When I say T-Mobile to you, just a couple of words.”
“Oh my god,” the woman starts, “the first word that came to my head was ghetto. That sounds, like, terrible.” She got a laugh from Claure and others seated around the table.
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After the Internet backlash, Claure took to Twitter in a three-part message: “I’ve just read all the comments regarding the video we posted and I want to profoundly apologize again to anyone I offended. As a proud Hispanic immigrant, I should have been more sensitive and known not to publish the customers’ comment. This was an honest mistake and lesson learned.”
While Sprint has taken the video down, it’s still available, so take a look.
T-Mobile U.S. CEO John Legere, an avid Twitter user, only commented, “I don’t think I need to respond.”