Anton Casey calls in PR help

Local papers have been abuzz with news on British banker Anton Casey who has posted photos on his personal Facebook profile calling commuters on public transport “poor people.”Casey, a wealth management specialist at Crossinvest, earlier put up a photo of his son on Facebook with the post: “Daddy, where is your car and who are all these poor people?” and a later post of his Porsche describing his relief at not having to use public transport.The online community has been in an uproar over his comments, with Casey reaching out to local agency Fulford Public Relations for help. According to local papers, he has been receiving death and kidnapping threats.He issued a statement of apology to the media and online, which was published in the Straits Times today.“I would like to extend a sincere apology to the people of Singapore. In the past 24 hours due to a recent chain of events, which include my misguided attempt at humour, a security breach of my personal Facebook page and the misuse of an old video by unknown sources, my family, especially, my five-year-old son has suffered extreme emotional and verbal abuse online.It must be made extremely clear that a YouTube video of me, with my son in the background was not posted in response to any recent events. This video was made weeks prior and has been misused to portray me as unrepentant. Police investigation into this matter, including receiving death threats, is ongoing. I have offended and disrespected the people of Singapore, my family - especially my five-year-old son. He is an innocent party to this unfortunate and extremely stressful situation. I wish for nothing more than to be forgiven for my poor judgement and given a second chance to rebuild the trust people had in me as a resident of this City - specifically for my family.Regards,Anton S Casey”Marina Mathews, managing director of Fulford PR said that the agency could not comment on how it was strategising to save the situation as police investigations were currently ongoing.In 2012, NTUC Membership assistant director Amy Cheong also found herself in a similar situation, where her remarks on Malay weddings on her personal Facebook profile were found to be racist and went viral.  NTUC later dismissed Cheong.