A Fathers’ Day "joke" tweet by the Topeka, Kansas police encouraging mothers to turn in their baby-daddies if they’ve committed any crimes blew up in the department’s face after it was perceived as somewhat less than humorous.
“Does your child’s father have warrrants [sic]? Is he carrying around any drugs? Has he been committing any crimes? Want to give him a Father’s Day he’ll never forget?” the department tweeted on Sunday, in what they insist was meant to be a stab at humor.
Twitter users were appalled, demanding to know who was responsible for such a “tone deaf” and “disgusting” tweet. More than one person pointed out that “this is why nobody trusts the police,” and several demanded whoever posted the tweet be fired.
The department has apologized for its “humorous and light-hearted” tweet, but the apology – of the “sorry you were offended” variety, which has become de rigueur in this kind of incident – came nearly a full 24 hours after the offending tweet and didn’t satisfy some critics, who doubled down on their attacks.
“There was nothing light hearted about that,” one user said.
Others, however, thought the whole thing was blown way out of proportion, pointing out that it was obviously a joke.
And a few even accepted the apology.
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