Earlier today, Razer, a very prominent gaming company, sent out a tweet. That was the company’s first mistake, but then it went and topped itself. Congratulations, Razer! It is a truly momentous day.
That’s a bad tweet. That’s a tweet no one should send, let alone the social media team of a major gaming company. It’s a reference to Razer’s new laptop, the Razer Blade Pro, which comes with an SD card slot. It’s also a play on the phrase “suck my dick,” which is a sexist and demeaning insult when used in this context.
Other users on Twitter delicately pointed our the problem, but Razer apparently took no notice.
Sexism in the tech industry is familiar territory, and while this unfunny tweet isn’t the most egregious example, it certainly doesn’t make Razer look very good. We’ve reached out to the company to see why it thought this might be a good idea, and we’ll update if we hear back.
Razer appears to have deleted the original tweet, and posted the following message tonight:
We apologize for the SD reader joke. To those who were offended, it was intended as a lighthearted turn of phrase that missed the mark.
— RΛZΞR (@Razer) November 2, 2016
And this is how you should not joke in social media at all.