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NKY Chamber issues apology to U.S. Rep. Massie after derogatory tweet was sent out from its account


NKyTribune staff

Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Brent Cooper has apologized to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), after a tweet using an expletive to describe Massie was sent out from the organization’s Twitter account Wednesday.

Cooper

The tweet, which was deleted soon after it was posted, was in response to a local media story about Massie’s vote against relief aid for Hurricane Harvey victims.

The tweet read, “Wow, what a piece of (expletive),” and included a link to the story.

Massie reportedly said he voted against the measure because there weren’t any corresponding budget reductions to offset the $7.85 billion in aid for those affected by the hurricane.

Cooper said the tweet was sent by an employee of Scooter Media, the NKY Chamber’s social media contractor, and Scooter Media issued a statement taking responsibility for the message.

Here is the text of the statement issued by Cooper:

In the event you haven’t heard, an employee of the NKY Chamber’s social media contractor, Scooter Media, unfortunately posted an ill-advised tweet regarding Congressman Thomas Massie’s vote related to the funding for victims of Hurricane Harvey yesterday afternoon.

 The Chamber in no way condones or was aware of this tweet before it was posted.  Scooter Media has issued a statement taking full ownership of this incident.

 Please know that we are working to ensure that this situation is not repeated in the future.

 I personally called and apologized to Congressman Massie less than an hour after the incident occurred.  

U.S. Rep. Massie

 We realize this has caused the Chamber an unwanted level of media coverage as well as harsh criticism. However, we would like to note this was a mistake made by a contractor and in no way reflects the Chamber’s position, demeanor or attitude in regard to Congressman Massie.

In its statement, Scooter Media acknowledges that the tweet was sent by an employee. It indicated the message was intended to be posted on the employee’s personal Twitter account.

The company states it has taken action to ensure the error will not happen again and that the employee has been suspended, pending a more detailed investigation.

Here is the full text of the statement release Wednesday evening by Scooter Media:

The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce was in no way responsible for the Wednesday evening Twitter comment that referenced Congressman Massie.

The post was from a team member of Scooter Media, a marketing firm that works on behalf of the Chamber. The comment, a response to the congressman’s no vote to support those impacted by Hurricane Harvey, was intended to be posted to the employee’s personal Twitter account. This personal comment in no way reflects the views of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce or that of Scooter Media broadly.

We have taken immediate action to ensure this type of error will not happen again and the employee involved was immediately suspended pending a more detailed inquiry.

Scooter Media wouldn’t condone this type of personal statement from our own twitter account, let alone from a client’s account, and we sincerely apologize to everyone who has been negatively impacted by this unfortunate incident.


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One Comment

  1. Marv Dunn says:

    I’m not proud of either the Tweetor or the Tweetee in this case. I fell that both were wrong in their actions. Please somebody primary Massie.

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