Said a racist joke at a party in 2019 and it cost me a job offer 3 years later

I told a dumb joke about Asian accents at a Halloween party back in 2019. Thought it was harmless at the time. Fast forward to 2022, I got a great offer from a tech company in Seattle, $120k salary. Then someone from that party shared a screenshot of a group chat where I doubled down on the joke. HR called and pulled the offer within 48 hours. I spent 6 months doing anti-bias training and volunteering with a local immigrant support group. My apology on LinkedIn got ratioed hard but I meant it. Has anyone else had a mistake from years ago come back at the worst possible moment?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlies371d ago

Man, at this point I'm scared to check my old group chats in case my terrible college jokes come back to haunt me. Did you ever find out who leaked the screenshot or is that person dead to you?

cameron_hernandez691d ago

That "terrible college jokes" line hits close to home. Did you actually delete the chats or are you just hoping nobody scrolls back far enough?

anthonynelson1d ago

Nah man, you messed up and you're mad the consequences caught up to you. That joke wasn't just "dumb," it was racist and you knew it at the time or you wouldn't have doubled down in the group chat. The tech company didn't wanna deal with the PR nightmare if someone found out they hired a guy with a public history of making fun of Asian accents. You did the anti-bias training and volunteer work after you got caught, not because you actually felt bad before the offer fell through. The only reason you apologized on LinkedIn was to try and save your career, not because you suddenly realized saying "ching chong" at a party is wrong. Your old jokes are just who you were and you gotta own that instead of blaming the person who screen shotted it.