Dbrand, a prominent maker of skins for mobile devices and faceplates for consoles, got into some hot water the past few days on social media. What started as making fun of a customer’s last name in the most cringe (and arguably racist) way possible, ended up with the company forking over $10,000 to make amends.
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On Monday, an X user named Bhuwan Chitransh sent a tweet to Dbrand asking what he should do to keep a Macbook skin the same color. Instead of offering some advice, the accessory maker decided to mock the user’s name.
“Your last name is basically shit rash, be serious,” Dbrand replied in a now-deleted tweet.
Dbrand did reply back to Chitransh on its support @robot account the same day, but it didn’t take long for the company to be called out for the tweet.
“You’ve fully crossed the line here mate, no coming back from this,” one X user posted.
“Wait really @dbrand? in lieu of any attempt at customer support, you make fun of a customer’s foreign name?” Another user tweeted.
After the backlash, Dbrand apologized for the tweet and offered a chunk of money to Chitransh as amends.
“Well, that escalated quickly,” the company posted on Wednesday. “1. Yes – we made fun of a guy’s name. It was a huge fumble. 2. We apologized to him directly and offered him $10,000 as a gesture of goodwill. 3. We’ve been poking fun at customers on social media for over a decade now. We’re not going to stop, but maybe next time you’ll be the one who gets $10,000.”
As for Chitransh, he posted on Thursday that he’s keeping the money.
“Usually love your banter, but this went too far. Engaging in racial discussions that degrade communities isn’t cool. Keeping the 10k though,” Chitransh tweeted.
