An employee of an Atlanta-based marketing firm has been fired after his racially-charged Facebook post about a colleague's three-year-old son went viral.

Gerod Roth, who goes by the name Geris Hilton on Facebook, posted a selfie with the African-American child on September 16. 

It attracted a string of comments from his friends that referred to the little boy as a 'slave' and 'staving', with Roth joining in the bigoted discussion by calling the boy 'feral'.

The boy, Cayden Jace, was identified by his mother, Sydney Shelton, who works with Roth at Polaris Marketing Group.

The company have now released a statement confirming Roth's contract has been terminated and that they are 'disgusted' by his behavior.  

Racist: Gerod Roth, who goes by Geris Hilton on Facebook, posted the photo and wrote hurtful and bigoted comments with his friends that referred to the little boy as 'starving' and 'feral', among other things

This is a screenshot of the comments that were written underneath the photo posted by Roth from his friends

Some of the more inappropriate comments that were posted with the photo cannot be published  

Roth's boss at Polaris Marketing, Group Michael Da Graca Pinto, took to Facebook last week and confirm Roth had been fired for the photo and the comments.

'This morning I was disgusted to learn that one of my former employees made several racially charged comments on his personal Facebook page. Even worse, the comments were directed toward the son of another employee,' the statement said.

'It breaks my heart that Sydney and her adorable son Cayden were subjected to such hateful, ignorant and despicable behavior. 

'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.

'The atrocious lies, slander and racism he and his mother have been forced to endure are wholly intolerable. 

'Myself and the entire PMG family in no way condones this kind of behavior and would never willingly associate with anyone who does.' 

Statement: The Atlanta-based firm posted this to their Facebook, confirming that Roth had been fired

People who had seen the Facebook post and were upset by it had started contacting the employers of the people writing the 'atrocious' comments.

According to Atlanta BlackStar, one of Roth's friends was also fired from her job after reading the racist comments on his Facebook page.

Emily Irene Red had commented on Roth's photo saying: 'I didn't know you were a slave owner.' 

Another 10 people had 'liked' her comment. 

It is not believed that Red worked at PMG. 

Roth, who has since shut down his Facebook page, claimed he too has been victimized.

“I just really feel upset, not only with myself, but also the character that was based off the comments that my friends had made,' he said in an interview Monday with Fox 5 Atlanta.

'Cayden has been victimized but I have been targeted.'  

Speaking out: Cayden's mother Sydney Shelton decided to identify her son following the online infamy and posted this

Faced with internet infamy, Cayden's mother Sydney Shelton decided to speak out against the post.

She put up a collection of photos of her son online in retaliation to show he wasn't 'feral' and assured people they are 'above all this nonsense that has been going on'. 

The post spawned the hashtag 'HisNameIsCayden' trending.   

She put up a collection of photos of her son and assured people they are 'above all this nonsense that has been going on'

'All this lovely personality wrapped up into one small person's body': Cayden's mom said they are 'above the nonsense' that the photo had caused 

In a separate post, the mom thanked people for the support her and Cayden have received in the wake of the photo.  

'To all who have been supportive of Cayden and I through these past few days, we thank you for it all,' the post said.

'The love that we have endured has become endless and we are overwhelmed with joy, and have hearts so full and warm.

'My family extends our gratitude to you all.'

RELATED ARTICLES

• Previous
• 1
• Next

• Heartbreak as YouTube reality TV family with 1.5million... 'Unapologetically Southern!' Texas man's rant defending his...

Share this article

Shelton also spoke to Atlanta Blackstar about what happened, and said the office she worked in with Roth is only 10 people.

She said Roth carried on as normal after posting the picture of Cayden and, even after it started going viral, did not speak to her about it.

'I was really caught off guard, and the fact the picture had been posted September 16th, and he wasn't fired until the 29th, and acting like nothing happened,' she told the website.

'He just went about like nothing even happened. 

'It went on for days, a week and a half before anyone found out it even existed.' 

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKAc4KQbGlpZ4edtrWxjKaYq6OVqbavs4yepKmkn66ypnnFoqmenF2lvLTAyKeeZquVobOqsYyhmK2dlqq5br7AnKCsrF2YvK65xKerrGWjpLtursuamqRlk6S5rbHAoKyeZZOWua21zaBkpaGkqbmmecGosGarnJbDpnrHraSl