New England Patriots Apologize For 'Regrettable Tweet'
BOSTON (CBS) – The New England Patriots have apologized after a social media celebration went horribly wrong.
The Pats wanted to express their gratitude to their Twitter followers Thursday with a simple message:
"Thanks for helping us become the first NFL team with 1 million followers!"
Fans who re-tweeted the post would get an automated personalized thank you message in reply, complete with a photo showing their twitter handle as the name on the back of a Patriots jersey.
But someone with an account called "@IHATE(racial slur)" re-tweeted the post. The hateful twitter handle ended up on the back of the jersey and the photo quickly spread online.
The Patriots deleted the tweet and issued this apology:
We apologize for the regrettable tweet that went out from our account. Our filtering system failed & we will be more vigilant in the future.
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 14, 2014
The apology had been re-tweeted more than 3,700 times by Friday morning.
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