It’s Clear Why The New England Patriots Issued an Immediate Apology for This ‘Regrettable’ Tweet

The New England Patriots on Thursday created custom online jerseys for fans that retweeted an announcement revealing the NFL team had surpassed 1 million followers — but the Patriots probably wish they had avoided doing so for one particular individual.

We're saying thanks to @patriots' 1million followers w/ custom digital Pats jerseys - RT for yours! #1MillionPatriots pic.twitter.com/u2SfidCb9e

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 13, 2014

A person with a Twitter handle which included a racial slur received an automated thank you after retweeting the announcement, along with a custom online avatar jersey from the team.

The tweet to "@IHATEN******S" was quickly removed by the Patriots, but not before it was screen grabbed by users on Twitter who quickly noticed it.

Image source Twitter via Deadspin

The NFL team later issued an online 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," the team said.

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

(H/T: Deadspin)

—

Follow Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) on Twitter

—

Featured image via New England Patriots Facebook