Pentagon Agency’s Twitter Account Deleted For ‘Poor Taste’

@AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Pentagon has scrapped the Twitter account of an agency that counters homemade explosives after it posted joking comments about a bombing in the Philippines, officials said Friday.

After explosions at two movie theaters in the Philippines, a staff member at the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Organization (JIEDDO) wrote in a tweet Wednesday that perhaps the cinemas were showing the film “Gigli,” a 2003 romantic comedy starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez that flopped at the box office.

“Were they re-showing Gigli? Bomb explosions occur at 2 movie theaters in the Philippines… the IED is a global threat,” said the post.

When the posting sparked critical reaction online, the agency tried to make another joke along the same lines. “Bad ppl doing bad thing didn’t warrant bad movie reference. Will punish #socialmedia rep by forcing 2 watch Gigli,” the agency wrote on its Twitter account.

After more negative reaction on Twitter, JIEDDO issued an apology. “Tweet was in poor taste. We apologize.”

Pentagon press secretary George Little then promptly announced in a tweet that he had ordered the suspension of the JIEDDO Twitter account “following inappropriate and offensive tweets.”

“Plainly unacceptable,” he wrote.

JIEDDO, which was created to combat improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan with multi-billion dollar funding, said in a statement Friday those responsible for the tweet “have been appropriately disciplined after an internal review.”

The organization “has a policy and procedure in place for selecting and crafting social media posts. That policy was not followed,” spokesman David Small said.

“We sincerely apologize for the distasteful comment. Bottomline, there is nothing funny about an IED event.”

Advertising

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

North Carolina GOP's Extremist Nominees Excite Democratic Strategists

Michele Morrow

In 2020, Joe Biden narrowly missed capturing North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes, losing the state by a slim 1.4-percentage-point margin. But that was nearly four years ago. Before the Dobbs decision. Before Donald Trump’s 91 felony indictments. And before last week, when the state’s GOP voters nominated a guy who favorably quotes Hitler, has compared LGBTQ+ people to insects and larvae, and thinks a six-week abortion ban isn’t quite extreme enough for governor. Tar Heel State Republicans also nominated another extremist, Michele Morrow, for superintendent of the state’s schools.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}