By Albert Lin
Sunday was a banner day for the Seattle Seahawks.
Monday Not so much.
On Sunday, the Seahawks came back from a 12-point deficit with three minutes remaining in the NFC Championship Game to earn a return trip to the Super Bowl. Quarterback Russell Wilson, who threw four interceptions in the first 55 minutes before connecting on the game-winning touchdown in overtime, was overwhelmed by his change of fortune, breaking down in tears.
On Monday, apparently in “honor” of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, someone manning the Seahawks’ Twitter account decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the team’s unlikely comeback by tying it to the civil-rights movement.
Needless to say, this did not go over well in the Twittersphere.
Congrats to the @Seahawks for the most offensive Tweet in sports history on #MLKDay2015 http://t.co/A64NiWu94k pic.twitter.com/r6PbOTsAOb
R-O (@DJ_R_O) January 19, 2015
The photo was one thing, but the fact that the @seahawks actually wrote “We shall overcome” as the caption is mind-boggling. #MLKday #fail
SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) January 19, 2015
“@Seahawks: We shall overcome. #MLKDay http://t.co/B34tdbXC2M” ummm, where do I even start with how wrong, gross, and obtuse this is!
Heather Smolen (@hsmolen) January 19, 2015
Some teams should take MLK Day off. #seahawks
Ken Fang (@fangsbites) January 19, 2015
MLK Day should be renamed “Social Media Intern Firing Day.” RT @Seahawks We shall overcome. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/TNR5v9dHr7
Colin Brooks (@cgb5001) January 19, 2015
The post was deleted and the team tweeted an apology two hours later:
We apologize for poor judgment shown in a tweet sent earlier. We did not intend to compare football to the civil rights legacy of Dr. King.
Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 19, 2015
Coincidentally, AdWeek ran a story earlier in the afternoon lauding the fact that “no one has tweeted anything terribly egregious today.” (A mention of the Seahawks tweet was inserted after it went out.)
While remembering Dr. King on social media is an admirable goal, the article points out that “the problem is when [companies] try to tie in their brand or product. That’s when the salute becomes more of a sales pitch.”
