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99.co apologises for SEO marketer's Facebook outburst

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Darius Cheung, the CEO of a local property portal 99.co has issued an apology on its site for the behavior of one of its digital marketing specialist Sonny Truyen. On its site, Cheung condemned Truyen’s behavior calling it “rude” and added his contract has been terminated.The move was done following Truyen’s outburst on social media calling Singapore “f***ing sh*t country” because he was unable to play the latest internet sensation Pokemon Go. When asked by another Facebook user why he referred to Singapore as such the conversation resulted in Truyen saying:“I am Australian [and] here because of lack of the local talent. You have done a great job of supporting my EP, locals can’t even read.”Since then Truyen’s LinkedIn and Facebook profiles have been suspended.Cheung in a statement added:“I apologise on behalf of 99.co, we pride ourselves to be a principled company that celebrates values like diversity and equality. We take responsibility for the public behaviour of any employee or consultant affiliated with us as a reflection of the company.”He added as a fellow Singaporean, he deeply cares about the future of this country deeply – a place he calls home and where his team built up 99.co.This is not the first time the local market has seen such uproar over racially insensitive comments. In 2012, NTUC fired Amy Cheong, after she posted insensitive remarks about Malay wedding's on her personal Facebook page. Two years later in 2014, Anton Casey a wealth management specialist at Crossinvest also saw the axe after calling locals who take public transport "poor".

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