Marlins Apologize for Twitter Joke Saying Tampa Bay Rays Mascot Killed Steve Irwin

Twitter may have a handy button for deleting ill-timed tweets, but that doesn't mean that the [...]

By John Newby

Twitter may have a handy button for deleting ill-timed tweets, but that doesn't mean that the message will completely disappear. As the Miami Marlins learned over the weekend, everything lives forever on the internet.

Sunday, the Marlins were engaged in a Twitter argument with the Tampa Bay Rays account when they made a cardinal sin. In response to some jokes about them losing during a weekend series, Miami took a shot at Tampa Bay's mascot, bringing up the untimely passing of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin.

"This was a regrettable exchange by our otherwise creative social media team. Unfortunately, in this medium, sometimes we swing and miss, and this was definitely a miss," the Marlins said in a statement. Additionally, Andy Slater reports that a spokesman said the matter had been addressed internally by the team.

Sunday, the Marlins finished a brief series against the Tampa Bay Rays, losing the second matchup to fall to 0-2 for the weekend. During these games, the two teams engaged in a tense back-and-forth on social media, with the Rays consistently reminding the Marlins that they were superior in the win-loss column.

The interactions started quietly enough with the Marlins posting a highlight of a play on Twitter. However, the Rays responded by simply saying "show the final out" to remind their opponent that the highlight didn't ultimately matter. Fairly standard show of dominance.

However, the back-and-forth quickly went off the rails. The Marlins retorted with "Can't hear u. Must be the maple leafs crunching," in reference to the very remote possibility that the Rays could play up to 50 percent of their season in Montreal due to a stadium funding issue.

Unfortunately for Miami's social media team, this barb only prompted a superior response by the Rays, in which they wrote, "here's the broom we just used on you, so you can clean them up." This was the final straw that caused the Marlins account to bring up Steve Irwin's unfortunate passing.

To their credit, the Marlins did not delete the message on Twitter. Instead, they posted an apology, saying, "Hi, guys. Like everyone who grew up watching him, we miss Steve. We're so sorry to have made light of his passing." This doesn't fix the problem, but it does show that the Marlins will own up to their mistakes.

Granted, management would probably prefer if the social media team had not made the joke in the first place, but hindsight is 20/20.

0comments
Start the Conversation

of