Tweeps divided on whether to accept Richard Branson's apology
- British billionaire and Virgin founder, Richard Branson, is facing backlash after tweeting a picture taken at his entrepreneurship development centre in South Africa that featured only white people
- The picture was posted on Monday and captioned, “We aim to become the heart of entrepreneurship in Southern Africa”
- It's not clear whether those pictured were employees of the centre or budding entrepreneurs seeking assistance from the centre
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The lack of diversity in the picture rubbed a large number of Twitter users up the wrong way.
Comments about the picture included, "Where did you find so many white people in South Africa?" and "I wish there were more black entrepreneurs in this picture".
Others, who assumed the picture was of the employees of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, chastised the businessman for only hiring white people.
After a flurry of negative feedback, Branson deleted the tweet.
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On Tuesday, he offered an apology, but comments were divided on whether or not to accept it.
He wrote, "Yesterday's choice of picture to go with my tweet clearly lacked diversity. Apologies. I hope you will look at my blog which does far better justice to the amazing work of the centre and its team."
Branson insisted the centre is for all South Africans.
Some tweeps accepted the apology, while others went as far as to say there was no need for Branson to apologise.
Others believed that Branson meant what he said in his first tweet and that is how he truly sees things and operates.
Even DJ Fresh chimed in on the ensuing debate.
When one tweep said he believed Branson was "colour blind", Fresh replied, "Sadly being colour-blind is actually more problematic than you care to admit! There will never be redress as long as we stay colour-blind!!"
He continued, "For a couple 100 years people were “excluded” because of colour. You cannot fix that if you don’t “see” colour.”
The centre is situation in Braamfontein in Johannesburg.
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Source: Briefly News
