In an effort to highlight Sexual Abuse Awareness Month, the official Twitter account of the Massachusetts State Government website published a tweet late Wednesday night advising readers that "sexual assault is always avoidable," prompting immediate backlash from commenters, Boston.com reported.
The tweet, which included a link for more information from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, was slammed with angry responses and called the offensive statement to be deleted.
Although it is unclear what prompted the message, it could be related in reference to Gov. Deval Patrick's 2012 declaration naming April "Sexual Assault Awareness Month."
According to Boston.com, the tweet links to an article on the Mass.Gov blog by Assistant Secretary for the Office of Children, Youth, and Families Kathleen Betts, praising "a growing force of young people on our college campuses and in high school" raising awareness about sexual assault in their communities.
After 12 hours of its posting, the tweet was removed. However, dozens of Twitter users had expressed their anger and voiced their opinion by then.
In a four-part Tweet posted Thursday morning to @massgov, Geoff Kula, director of the mass.gov site, formally apologized on Twitter for the offensive tweet.
He expressed regret over the use of the phrase, which was harshly denounced by multiple followers of the site's Twitter account, which has 36,100 followers, Boston Globe reported.
"I deeply regret the message sent last night regarding sexual assault and apologize to all sexual assault victims,'' Kula wrote in a tweet. "We in no way meant to suggest that victims of sexual assault are to blame for the crimes committed against them.''
The apology ended by giving readers a chance to "learn more about what you can do to combat violence or if you need assistance'' by directing them to Massachusetts Health and Human Services blog.
