The chief spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday mistakenly tweeted a link to the military’s version of The Onion.
The tweet has since been deleted.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, who serves as the chief spokesman for U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, meant to share a link containing Hagel’s statement on Wednesday’s tragic Fort Hood shooting when he tweeted: “Secdef issues statement on today's shooting.” Instead, the link that followed led to a story on Duffel Blog, a tongue-in-cheek website that contains satirical news articles about the U.S. military.
The article in question: “Captain Being Photographed Unaware It’ll Be On Cover Of Navy Times When He’s Fired Next Month.” Here's a taste:
“A U.S. Navy captain sitting down for his official photograph to be used on the command wall of the USS San Antonio (LPD-17) as well as his online biography is unaware it will also be used in hundreds of news stories when he’s fired for misconduct in the next couple of months, sources confirmed today.
After Twitter users poked fun at the press secretary’s mistaken link, Kirby sent a tweet explaining the error. “My last tweet included an erroneous link,” he tweeted. “Not sure what I did wrong. Read Secdef's statement at defense.gov.”
My last tweet included an erroneous link. Not sure what I did wrong. Read Secdef's statement at http://t.co/ZV3TyaXJyi.— Rear Adm. John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) April 3, 2014