The anniversary of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 remains a difficult day 13 years after the fact. Everyone observes it differently, but most would agree it is a somber occasion. That tone makes everyone a little more sensitive as well.

That’s why  a recent tweet the from the Twitter feed of the Pittsburgh Penguins caught some serious negative attention.

After a (likely) opposing fan based out of Washington, D.C., tweeted at the Penguins’ twitter feed “who cares about the Pens?” the Penguins struck back.

 

(screen grab via Puck Daddy)

It of course was meant to be light-hearted and perhaps a social media manager was getting a little tired of getting that tweet, which I’d guess comes multiple times per day from opposing fans. However, given the relative somber tone of the day, the attempt at humor was received less receptively as you might expect.

The tweet has since been deleted and the Penguins issued the following apology later:

On any other day, that tweet probably doesn’t come under scrutiny, even though organizing a following of more than 547,000 to fill someone’s mentions with retorts after a fairly innocuous tweet seems a little low as it is.

Sept. 11 remains a touchy subject for a lot of people and probably will for a long time. This may be an instance of some over-sensitivity, even if there was a poor choice of words here. Either way, the Pens were wise to apologize for the tweet as this day of remembrance continues to be a tough one for a lot of brands to manage appropriately on social media.

(h/t Puck Daddy)