The Vegas Golden Knights have apologized for an ill-advised tweet made on Friday night in Nashville.
The incident stems from a now-deleted tweet, which the Tennessean’s Adam Vingan captured here, that suggested that members of the Nashville Predators media contingent were cheering after the Predators scored a goal, a no-no in sports journalism and in journalism as a whole. The tweet never named a reporter, and blanketed the whole Nashville media press corps in a single hit of the ‘Tweet’ button.
The tweet led to another Nashville reporter, Jim Diamond of the Associated Press -- and a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, to call for an apology and a retraction of the damning tweet.
“I’m writing this on behalf of the Professional Hockey Writers Association chapter of Nashville as well as our entire media corps,” Diamond’s request read. “We take exception to the irresponsible tweet copied below. It’s disrespectful to our credentialed media and we would like a public apology and retraction from the Golden Knights’ Twitter account.”
Diamond tweeted out what he sent to the Golden Knights, saying, “On behalf of the Nashville media, we thought it was important to request an apology and retraction from Vegas for their irresponsible tweet. Below is the copy sent to their media relations department.”
The tweet has since been deleted and on Saturday afternoon, the Golden Knights issued an apology on Twitter.
“We apologize for our comment that insinuated members of the Nashville media were cheering in the press box during our game Friday,” the two-tweet apology said.
We have a great deal of respect and admiration for the press and the PWHA and are sorry that their integrity was called into question. We have addressed the matter with the PWHA and internally with our staff.”
This isn’t the first time the Golden Knights’ Twitter account has found itself in hot water.
The Golden Knights didn’t immediately apologize and retract the tweet, choosing to spend time mocking the New England accent, which only fueled the fervor.
Eventually, the team sent out an apology for the “poor taste” of the tweet.
The Golden Knights Twitter account, to some, has been a breath of fresh air, away from the corporate mumbo-jumbo that some teams subscribe to. To each their own, really. Funny tweets are funny tweets, and the Golden Knights have had their fair share of them in their inaugural season.
But attacking, and potentially jeopardizing the careers of seasoned professionals, crosses the line by a fair margin.
Another tick in the “poor taste” column.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck