Washington, Oct 7 (IANS): At least two people were fired from their jobs in the US after racist comments they made on Facebook went viral, the media reported.

Gerod Roth, an employee of Atlanta-based Polaris Marketing Group (PMG), on September 16 posted a selfie on Facebook under the pseudonym Geris Hilton with an African-American toddler -- child of a colleague.

Soon after, the post attracted several comments from his friends that referred to the boy as a "slave" and "staving". Roth too left racist comments on the picture that later went viral, the Atlanta BlackStar reported.

"I did not know you were a slave owner," said Emily Irene Red.

Roth too joined the discussion, saying, "He was feral".

Roth's boss later released a statement saying Roth has been fired from his job.

"One of my former employees made several racist comments on his personal Facebook page. Even worse, the comments were directed towards the son of another employee," the boss said.

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

"The company has fired Roth and will ensure that none of the businesses that we associate with will ever do business with him again," he added.

One of Roth's friends was also fired from her job over the racist comments.

"I was really caught off guard, and the fact the picture had been posted on September 16th, and he was not fired until 29th," the child's mother Sydney was quoted as saying.