Patriots Commit Worst Social Media Fail of the Year, Tweet the “N” Word
The New England Patriots may be considered the premier franchise of the NFL by its fans and defenders, but they stepped into the racial crosshairs this week. The Pats tried to thanks their millionth Twitter follower by tagging them in a post on the official team feed. In doing so the Patriots committed the Twitter fail of the year. They “mistakenly” tweeted out an image of the user’s name on a Pats jersey to their social media feed. Unfortunately, the winner’s name featured the “N” word. The racially insensitive post immediately went viral and forced the team to react immediately. The censored version of the post can be seen below.
The Patriots responded by tagging the offensive user saying, “Thanks for helping us become the first NFL team with 1 million followers! #1MillionPatriots.” The social media image even included a handwritten note signed by Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. New England later deleted the tweet and apologized, calling the gaffe a filtering problem. “We apologize for the regrettable tweet that went out from our account.,” the Patriots tweeted. “Our filtering system failed and we will be more vigilant in the future.”
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
Reader Reaction
Tumblr user iloveitmydarling left a comment on our post on our archived F&TS Tumblr page: “Actually, and if you were following them on Twitter you would know that this user wasn’t the one-millionth follower! And you would also know that they thanked more than 100 fans through an automatic third-party program!”
“You would also know that they apologized over something they couldn’t possibly know would happen. It’s an AUTOMATIC PROGRAM ran by a THIRD PARTY!!! SMH people nowadays run after the headlines without thinking or even bothering to read/check on the truth behind the actual story!”
Our Response
We appreciate your opinion, but the Patriots did apologize for the error, so they know they did something wrong. Whether it be third-party software or inadequate filters, the message went out on your social media platform. It’s really easy to blame other(s) for your mistakes, the right thing to do is to be accountable and say, we screwed up. We stick by our post.
For more, visit the New York Daily News.