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Weather Channel Apologizes To Fort Worth, TX Councilman Joel Burns For Rude Tweet

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The Weather Channel has definitely ruffled the feathers of Fort Worth, TX residents.

On Monday, May 12 the television channel landed in hot water after sending a crude tweet to an openly gay Texas politician. A minute issue that could have been rectified with the quick change of a few pictures quickly evolved into an epic Twitter failure.

It all started when Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns tweeted to the television channel to complain about the pictures that appear on his Weather Channel app.

Burns expressed that the images programmed into the app for Forth Worth, TX are actually pictures of the Dallas city skyline. Fort Worth, TX is often represented as “Dallas/Fort Worth,” so the city’s independence has a tendency to go unnoticed.

“Dear @weatherchannel I SWEAR I’m deleting your aggravating app if you don’t STOP SHOWING DALLAS pics for Fort Worth,” Burns tweeted. When the network didn’t reply, Burns opted to delete the mobile app.

He also decided to inform the Weather Channel that he’d done so. He posted a screenshot from his iPhone, showing that the app was no longer visible on his mobile device. ““Hey snoozing @weatherchannel social media team, see anything missing now?” he added.

Although it may have seemed that the network was asleep, Burns’ tweets definitely didn’t go unnoticed because the network eventually replied.

The subliminal jab didn’t go unnoticed by Fort Worth, TX citizens. As a matter of fact, many expressed their disdain toward the network’s tactless remark, while others posted in agreement with Burns under the hashtag “#THISIsFortWorth.”

The offensive tweet came across as a very brash rebuttal, given Burns past acknowledgment of his personal accounts with bullying. He is also an advocate against bullying toward gay and lesbian children. For those who don’t know, Burns gained national recognition for his heartfelt “It Gets Better” speech, in support of gay teens.

As a result of the Twitter backlash, the Weather Channel issued a statement of apology. “This morning one of our team members used sarcasm in an unfortunate and unacceptable way on our Twitter account,” the Weather Channel said in a statement.

“It was not our intention to offend and we are sorry that we ​did. We have since apologized to Councilman Burns​ and want to restate that sincere apology and assure him that this tweet does not represent our views. In fact, this is the opposite of how we want to interact with our fans, as we value their input on any occasion. We are taking the necessary steps to be sure something like this does not occur again.”

Image via Weather Channel, Facebook

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