The Seattle Seahawks must have been feeling themselves after coming off their big win Sunday night—so much so that they thought they’d celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with a memorable tweet.
The football team chose to show MLK some love by tweeting a photo of Russell Wilson crying, and attaching an MLK quote to it. The team compared its win to the hardships King suffered while fighting for equality.
https://twitter.com/YeshaCallahan/status/557269426563985408
No and double no.
Here’s the thing. Not everything needs to be attributed or correlated to King’s mission, especially not football. King was not looking to make touchdown passes or whatever else they do in the sport of football. And for kicks (pun intended), the Seahawks ended their tweet with ‘We Shall Overcome.”
Who was the person who thought this would be a good idea? Did someone seriously sit down in a cubicle and think to him or herself, “Yeah, this is awesome. I’ll definitely get some kudos for coming up with this idea.”
https://twitter.com/Mighty1ne/status/557271231939235840
Seahawks, please send that person back to Social Media 101.
It was only a matter of minutes before the tweet disappeared, but not before screenshots were captured. Nothing ever disappears from social media.
https://twitter.com/MGORROW/status/557271215539093505
So what does any organization do after its tweet faux pas? It sends out an apology, of course:
https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/557288517446144000
Dear Seahawks:
Please stay away from Black History Month.
Thanks.