WTVC - News Channel 9 in ChattanoogaChattanooga's WTVC Channel 9 is receiving national attention over a tweet someone at the station sent out Monday night when news of the grand jury verdict came out of Ferguson, Mo.
It's not positive attention.
When ABC News broke in to a program to report that the grand jury did not indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, @newschannelnine tweeted: "Don't worry, Dancing With the Stars will be back on after the special report."
To some, the tweet came off as insensitive and racist.
"You should just go off the air right now," Jasmine Berry said on Channel 9's Twitter feed.
The gaffe hit some national websites Tuesday, showing up on Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, Hollywood Reporter and E!Online, among others, eliciting more outrage.
"A tweet exclusively for the racist, ignorant, dancing fanatics?" Jessica tweeted to the station.
"A man is dead. A family is grieving. A city is burning. Nobody gives a damn tonight about 'Dancing With the Stars,'" Ryan Holmes tweeted.
Channel 9 quickly pulled the original tweet Monday night and sent out three apologies in rapid succession. One explained that station officials thought some viewers might be upset that "Dancing With the Stars" was being pre-empted.
"We were anticipating people complaining. But we did it in a completely lunkheaded way. We're sorry," the tweet said.
General Manager Mike Costa said Tuesday that the station's official statement was in one of the tweets sent Monday: "We did not mean to be insensitive with our previous tweet about DWTS vs. Ferguson. We apologize if it was perceived that way."