Gerod Roth fired from marketing job after racist comments on Facebook photo with co-worker’s black son

ON the surface this photo looks harmless, maybe even a bit cute. But things quickly took a vile, racist turn. Now this guy, fired from work, is copping death threats.

ON the surface, it looked perfectly innocent, and maybe even a little cute. But things quickly took an ugly, racially-charged turn.

Marketing professional Gerod Roth has been fired and is copping death threats after he last month snapped a selfie with a co-worker’s three-year-old son, Cayden Jace, and proceeded to post it to Facebook. He also used it as his profile picture.

Setting aside the fact Roth did not get permission from his colleague to plaster her toddler’s image on social media, it was the racist remarks that quickly plagued the post which resulted in Roth becoming jobless.

Shocking comments ... One of the screenshots of Roth’s post which went viral. Picture: Twitter/Facebook

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The vile comments mocked the African American boy as a starving slave.

Just some of the insults hurled at the image include: “I didn’t know you were a slave owner”, “But Massuh, I dindu nuffin” and “Send him back dude those f---ers are expensive ... like 25 cents a day.”

Roth also chimed into the bigoted banter, describing Cayden as “feral” under the name Geris Hilton.

The post has been deleted, but not before shocked onlookers took screenshots.

It wasn’t long before Cayden’s broken-hearted mother Sydney Shelton found out about the foul remarks being made about her son — whom she describes on Facebook as the “love of my life” — because of his skin colour.

Speaking out ... Single mum Sydney Shelton uploaded a series of photos to her Facebook page, saying this was how she wanted Cayden to be known. Picture: Facebook

Roth was promptly fired from marketing firm Polaris Marketing Group, with the company president Michael Da Graca Pinto voicing his disgust on Facebook.

“It breaks my heart that Sydney and her adorable son Cayden were subjected to such hateful, ignorant and despicable behaviour. Cayden visits my office almost every afternoon after daycare, he’s sat at my dinner table and I consider him a part of the PMG family,” he wrote.

Shelton, a single mum who brings Cayden to work after he finishes preschool, said she wasn’t buying Roth’s remorse.

“People post things in a jokingly manner and it gets taken a completely different way but I don’t believe any of these people were joking,” Shelton told FOX 5.

Protective mother ... Sydney Shelton has slammed commenters for their foul remarks about her son. Picture: Facebook

She also thanked the public for the #HisNameIsCayden movement that was gaining traction online, and was grateful to the world’s web-users who had reached out to her with support. A GoFundMe page has also been set up to raise money for Cayden’s future studies.

“He is not a deaf child. He is not mute. He has never been abandoned. He is a well-loved, fun-loving, hyperactive and typical three-year-old,” she said.

Roth this morning took to Facebook to defend himself in a longwinded explanation, saying he felt angry and upset. He said he often playfully called his own daughter “feral” when she was running around.

Remorseful ... An apologetic Roth recently posted this image of himself to Facebook.

He insisted he asked one of his friends to cut out the racist comments and claimed he had been unfairly targeted. He said he had since been attacked by outraged social media users and was being sent a stream of death threats.

“The doctored screenshots (were) ... falsified and aimed directly at me, targeting myself as the canvas for racism and bigotry, as well as poor Cayden being victimised to the general public.”

He apologised and said he had been trying to contact Shelton, before signing off with the hashtag #HisNameIsCayden.

“I am beyond words by how sorry I am of the outcome. I can say that I truly did try my best to curb the racism in the thread.”