White insurance company chiefs who created a rap video wearing dark glasses and hoodies as a ‘thank you’ to employees are forced to apologize for being ‘racist’
- Manulife Financial’s CEO, Roy Gori, and other chief officers created spoof rap video as a part of the team’s end-of-year message to company’s 36,000 workers
- Gori and some members from his team were dressed in dark glasses and hoodies
- They were accused of rapping ‘like a wannabe Dr Dre or Ice Cube’ from N.W.A.
- In the statement, the insurer said that the video was meant to be ‘lighthearted’
An insurance company’s white leadership team, including its CEO, were forced to apologize after they created a rap video as a ‘thank you’ to their employees.
Manulife Financial’s CEO, Roy Gori, and other chief officers created the spoof rap video as a part of the team’s end-of-year message to the company’s 36,000 workers.
Gori and members from his team were dressed in dark glasses and hoodies while rapping ‘like a wannabe Dr Dre or Ice Cube’, according to the Boston Globe.
A link to the video was sent internally to the company’s employees on December 12. The video was pulled from the internal website by the end of the day.
Manulife Financial’s CEO, Roy Gori (pictured), and other chiefs created the rap video as a part of the team’s year-end message to the company’s 36,000 workers. Gori and his team were dressed in dark glasses and hoodies while rapping ‘like a wannabe Dr Dre or Ice Cube’
A meme created by an employee showed a still from the video with the label ‘Straight Outta Costfit’. The font was similar to the iconic hip-hop album cover ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (movie pictured) by N.W.A.
Rap group N.W.A. pose with rappers The D.O.C. and Laylaw from Above The Law (L-R standing: Laylaw, DJ Yella, Dr Dre and The D.O.C. seated Ice Cube, Eazy-E and MC Ren) backstage at the Kemper Arena during their ‘Straight Outta Compton’ tour in June 1989 in Kansas City, Missouri
It was supposed to serve as a ‘thank you’ to Manulife’s employees, but instead, several workers slammed the leadership team for the ‘misguided at best, and racist at worst’ video.
According to the Globe, a meme created by an employee showed a still from the video with the label ‘Straight Outta Costfit’.
The font was similar to the iconic hip-hop album cover ‘Straight Outta Compton’ by N.W.A.
N.W.A was formed in early 1987 by founding members Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E and Arabian Prince. MC Ren and DJ Yella joined later that year.
Following the release of the video, the company’s leadership responded to employee concern over the video by coordinating a forum.
According to the Globe, the 90-minute meeting was attended by more than 160 employees and 700 others who were linked in from other locations.
Gori apologized to employees at a forum that was held in Boston a few days after the video was sent to the company’s workers internally. Manulife (file image) is a Canadian insurance company
Gori apologized to employees at the meeting, but he also released a statement.
In the statement, the Toronto-based insurer said that the video was meant to be ‘lighthearted’.
‘We regret creating this video, removed it immediately and held a forum to apologize to and hear directly from our employees,’ Manulife said.
‘We strive to have an environment where all employees are treated with respect and dignity, and the recent video clearly didn’t meet that objective.’