AT&T president Aaron Slator sacked for sending racially offensive messages

NEW DELHI: American AT&T, which is facing a $100 million discrimination lawsuit, has fired its president Aaron Slator, who allegedly sent racially offensive images from his phone.

AT&T said in a statement that “there is no place for demeaning behaviour within AT&T and we regret the action was not taken earlier.”

 An assistant who was asked to transfer data to a new smartphone found the image on Slator’s phone, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday by Knoyme King, a 50-year-old black woman who worked for Slator.

 One of the images, apparently of an African child dancing with the caption “It’s Friday…” followed by a term offensive to African Americans, had been sent in a text describing it as an “oldie but a goodie,” the lawsuit said.

 The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names as defendants Slator, AT&T, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, other executives and board member Joyce Roche.

Slator was president of content and advertising sales, managing its multibillion-dollar budget for content acquisition that is consumed by subscribers of Dallas-based AT&T’s U-verse TV service.

 King’s lawyer Skip Miller told The Associated Press that the lawsuit will continue. He said the company failed to take action earlier, despite the issue being brought to the attention of its board of directors and human resources department. “This is an AT&T problem, it’s not just an Aaron Slator problem,” he said.

 The lawsuit alleges that King was passed over for promotions and given inferior raises because of her race, that she was mistreated and that attempts were made to have her leave the company. King has worked 30 years for AT&T and is still employed there, Miller said.