American baseball team is forced to apologise after making an awful joke about Steve Irwin’s death
- American baseball team has apologised after making light of Steve Irwin’s death
- The Miami Dolphins apologised for the tweet saying it was regrettable
- Steve died in 2006, his wife Terri and kids Bindi and Robert carry on his work
An American baseball team has been slammed for making light of the death of beloved Australian icon Steve Irwin.
The Miami Marlins apologised on Sunday after their team’s Twitter account posted a joke about the late Crocodile Hunter during a heated exchange with rival team, the Tampa Bay Rays.
Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray in 2006.
An American baseball team has been slammed for making light of the death of beloved Australian personality the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin
Irwin died at the age of 44 in 2006 after he was swimming with stingrays and one stung him, the barb piercing his heart (pictured with wife Terri and children Bindi and Robert)
‘You’re literally the animal that killed Steve Irwin log off,’ the tweet read.
After backlash online, the Miami Dolphins admitted the comment was regrettable and sent out an apology.
‘This was a regrettable exchange by our otherwise creative social media team. Unfortunately, in this medium, sometimes we swing and miss, and this was definitely a miss,’ the unnamed Marlins spokesman said.
‘The matter has been addressed internally,’ they added.
The exchange began earlier on Saturday with the Dolphins tweeting out a video of star player Brian Anderson firing the ball in from the outfield to take out a runner as he dived for the home base.
After backlash online the Miami Dolphins quickly admitted the comment was made by their media team and was regrettable
‘He’s the guy your third base coach warned you about,’ they said.
‘Show the final out,’ the Tampa Bay Rays replied.
The back and forth continued until the Dolphins fired the offensive tweet.
Irwin died at the age of 44 in 2006 after he was swimming with stingrays and one stung him, with the barb piercing his heart.
During his life he became world renowned as an animal expert and passionate environmentalist as well as running a successful animal park on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
The park, Australia Zoo, is still run by his wife Teri and his children Bindi and Robert.
Bindi announced her engagement to her fiance Chandler Powell in July.
Bindi and Terri Irwin who still carry on Steve’s conservation work