The New England Patriots had a costly fumble on the goal line of social media.
The Patriots faux pas popped off during a Twitter campaign that was meant to highlight the NFL team’s one millionth follower — and it backfired spectacularly late Thursday when an account with a racial slur handle was named the winner.
The team emblazoned the N-word across the back of a team jersey and sent the tweet out to stunned fans.
The offensive tweet said: “Thanks for helping us become the first NFL team with 1 million followers! #1MillionPatriots.”
Moreover, the social media image included a handwritten note signed by Patriots bad-boy 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. Our filtering system failed & we will be more vigilant in the future.”
— New England Patriots (@Patriots)November 14, 2014
The Patriots were roasted by the fumbled nevertheless:
Live shot of the@Patriots front officepic.twitter.com/ttGRSl7Kw9
— Jason Sparks (@sparksjls)November 14, 2014
Congrats to Riley Cooper on being the Patriots millionth follower!#1MillionPatriots
— Jesse (@JesseBealJr) November 14, 2014
@Patriots SMH RAY RICE GAVE A BETTER APOLOGY
— Richie Cobb III (@R_CIII)November 14, 2014
@AndrewLucksHead tweeted: “Has Roger Goodell suspended the @Patriots twitter feed yet?”