The British Embassy in Washington D.C. was forced to apologize over a joking tweet "commemorating" the burning of the White House 200 years ago.
On Sunday the British Embassy tweeted from its @UKinUSA account an image of a White House cake surrounded by sparklers.
"Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!" the tweet reads.
In 1814, British troops seized and burned several official buildings in Washington, including the Capitol and the White Hose. The events took place during the War of 1812, the only conflict since the American Revolution when a foreign power occupied Washington, according to the BBC.
The tweet was shared over 7,000 times as scores of users blasted the embassy for having "poor taste."
"Is this suppose to be funny?" tweeted one person according to the BBC.
"Good to know the US isn't the only country with a mentally deficient diplomatic corps that doesn't know how to tweet," another user wrote according to The Independent.
The British Embassy issued an apology by Sunday night and posted a link to an article written by an embassy official about the events of August 1814 and how the U.S. and U.K. rely on each other today.
"Apologies for earlier Tweet. We meant to mark an event in history & celebrate our strong friendship today."
But not everyone found the "burning" tweet offensive.
"@UKinUSA no need to apologize! I'm American and I chuckled. I think our two nations have been through enough together to share a joke," Chris Reames tweeted.
