It’s not every day that a major news station makes such a glaring mistake, but KTLA, a prominent news station based in California, recently found itself in hot water after its official X (formerly Twitter) account posted a tweet containing the N-word. The offensive post wasn’t intentional—according to the Los Angeles station, it was the result of a botched test of their language filter system. Instead of adding the slur to the filter list, someone mistakenly tweeted it, unleashing the word into the chaotic world of the internet.
Though KTLA quickly deleted the tweet, the damage was already done. As many online users say, once something is on the internet, it’s there forever. Screenshots of the tweet began circulating shortly after, ensuring it wouldn’t be forgotten anytime soon.
When the Los Angeles news station issued an explanation, many people remained skeptical. After all, it was hard to believe that such an offensive word could be tweeted by accident. KTLA stated that they were conducting a full investigation into how the incident occurred and reiterated their apology, promising to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
Oops!
Many who heard about the incident found it unexpectedly amusing. One Redditor simply commented, “Well, that’s awkward.” Others joked about the behind-the-scenes process, imagining the employee responsible for compiling a list of slurs. “The fact that someone has to manually type every slur they can think of is hilarious to me,” another user said.
One Redditor even wrote a short comedy skit:
Tech: “Language filters are all set. Nothing bad is getting through this thing.”
Staff: “Are you sure it’s going to work?”
Tech: “Absolutely! It’s Friday—what’s the worst that could happen?”
Staff: “…Uh, it looks like it went right through.”
Tech: “…What? That’s weird. The system should be running fine—”
Staff (realizing the implications): “Oh god, no…”
Tech (realizing even further implications): “OH F—!”
Others pointed out that six people had already liked KTLA’s tweet containing the slur before it was taken down. While some speculated that bots may have been responsible, others believed a few users might have found the incident amusing and gave it a like. Meanwhile, some wondered whether the employee responsible would be fired. “Assuming this was an honest mistake, I’d rather keep the person around. You know they’re not making that mistake again. A new person? Who knows?” one user remarked.
Some users admitted to feeling a bit of schadenfreude over KTLA’s mishap. While the incident was clearly an accident, the Los Angeles news station still faced harsh criticism and plenty of negative attention from the public. “If you thought you were having a bad week at work, at least you weren’t the socials manager for KTLA, lmao,” one Redditor joked.
