Updated — 4:50 p.m. ET
The Twitter account for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sent out this tweet on Wednesday morning and then was quickly deleted.
The tweet linked to a story about Willie Lynch, a Powder Springs, Ga., resident who bought a winning $1 million lottery ticket.
And while the tweet was yanked down, it didn't stop people from seeing it or the subsequent screenshots.
AJC is on some other stuff today
A'Ronn [Aye-Ron]
@Ronn_Stoppable
AJC is on some other stuff today
Needless to say, readers weren't thrilled...
AJC now hiring social media specialist #AJCHeadlines
Jean Shorts Torture
@JortsTorture
AJC now hiring social media specialist #AJCHeadlines
Maybe this is an @ajc staffing issue?
Hari Gopal
@hgopal10
Maybe this is an @ajc staffing issue?
Woo boy, somebody at AJC getting fired today.
Eric Stoner
@ECStoner
Woo boy, somebody at AJC getting fired today.
It’s nice that everyone is learning about the illiterate, incompetent mess that is the @ajc. Imagine living with it every day.
¡socratic!
@socratic
It’s nice that everyone is learning about the illiterate, incompetent mess that is the @ajc. Imagine living with it every day.
We certainly do not have the readership of the @ajc, but we do promise to avoid disastrous tweets like theirs.
The It-City Paper
@TheItCityPaper
We certainly do not have the readership of the @ajc, but we do promise to avoid disastrous tweets like theirs.
So we just making racist tweets then deleting them huh. Oh, ok. @ajc
Brother' Odom
@JoshKoshBGosh1
So we just making racist tweets then deleting them huh. Oh, ok. @ajc
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has apologized for the tweet, saying they're working on addressing what happened.
The AJC apologizes for & deeply regrets the tweet that was posted earlier today. We are working to address this situation internally.
AJC
@ajc
The AJC apologizes for & deeply regrets the tweet that was posted earlier today. We are working to address this situation internally.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sincerely regrets an earlier Twitter message that contained an inappropriate statement. We took immediate action to apologize via social media and on our website and will issue an apology in Thursday morning's print edition. We do not condone such offensive messages and are reviewing our procedures to ensure this type of error does not happen again. Additionally, we are taking the appropriate disciplinary action with the individuals involved.