Seahawks Follow Up Their Big Win With a Bigger Fail: A ‘We Shall Overcome’ MLK Tweet

One day after their unbelievable, inspiring win over the Green Bay Packers, which sent them to the Super Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks hit rock bottom on Twitter with a tweet that read, "We shall overcome #MLKDay"—using Martin Luther King Jr. to celebrate the team and its football prowess.

The tweet, which appears to have been deleted, also included a photo of quarterback Russell Wilson, with a tear in his eye, captioned with this MLK quote: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

As you can see below, the response was not kind.

UPDATE: The Seahawks have now apologized for the tweet:

We apologize for poor judgment shown in a tweet sent earlier. We did not intend to compare football to the civil rights legacy of Dr. King.

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 19, 2015

As we did our MLK tweet roundup earlier today, we had thought brands had learned a thing or two about sensitivity in this regard. Clearly not. The New England Patriots, meanwhile, didn't post any MLK tweets, preferring to keep it simple.

this is disgusting, @seahawks. pic.twitter.com/bC05nb2nDF

— drew olanoff (@drew) January 19, 2015

The photo was one thing, but the fact that the @seahawks actually wrote "We shall overcome" as the caption is mind-boggling. #MLKday #fail

— SportsGrid (@SportsGrid) January 19, 2015

MLK Day should be renamed "Social Media Intern Firing Day." RT @Seahawks We shall overcome. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/TNR5v9dHr7

— Colin Brooks (@cgb5001) January 19, 2015

"@Seahawks: We shall overcome. #MLKDay http://t.co/B34tdbXC2M" ummm, where do I even start with how wrong, gross, and obtuse this is?!

— Heather Smolen (@hsmolen) January 19, 2015

Seriously??? Don't make me root for the Pats. RT @Seahawks: We shall overcome. #MLKDay http://t.co/XCLoYDh3dZ"

— Shary Tran (@sharytran) January 19, 2015

MLK's "We shall overcome" is about civil rights and achieving equality, it is blasphemous to compare it to a football game. @Seahawks

— Shirley (@SFsportschick) January 19, 2015

Fire everyone who had a hand in this. Immediately RT @Seahawks: We shall overcome. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/dyJBA37F9E

— DarkSkintDostoyevsky (@daniecal) January 19, 2015