The perils of social media are wide-ranging and can oftentimes be much more complex than meets the eye, but we have to admit this is a new one. On Monday, suspended Cleveland Browns WR Josh Gordon was back in the public eye when WXIA in Atlanta tweeted out an article saying he was arrested for a DWI. Given Gordon’s year-long suspension and continual trouble with substance abuse, the incredulous reaction across Twitter was immediate.
Josh Gordon is a loser and an idiot. Arrested AGAIN for a DWI?? Adios to your career
— Eric Vincent (@IAmEricVincent) August 10, 2015
Josh Gordon arrested again. I'm more than done with him at this point.
— Dylan (@DyIanHughes) August 10, 2015
Again?RT "@11AliveNews: Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon arrested for DWI http://t.co/1IJsgHyvhK”
— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) August 10, 2015
But there was just one problem – WXIA mysteriously tweeted out an old article. While Twitter was freaking out thinking Gordon was arrested again, they were really all coming up with their jokes, sarcastic remarks, and public shaming about his arrest from 2014.
This article just started floating around but reading it, it seems like it is last year's story: http://t.co/EWBBKmn6eY
— Orange and Brown Rpt (@TheOBR) August 10, 2015
How did this happen? Apparently site maintenance at WXIA caused the old article to spit out anew on the station’s social media feed.
CLARIFICATION: While doing maintenance on our site, a 2014 story on Josh Gordon was auto-retweeted. Please note this story was from 2014.
— 11Alive News (@11AliveNews) August 10, 2015
There’s now even a clarification on the article in question that it is indeed from 2014 in big bold letters and not some weird Twitter timewarp.
Finally, Gordon also tweeted about the insanity, and it’s just kind of depressing to read.
https://twitter.com/JOSH_GORDONXII/status/630824976854175744
It must be a pretty lonely feeling to be suspended for an entire season and feel like the whole world, including Twitter bots, are against you.
H/T Brandon