The Department of Education apologized on Sunday for misspelling W.E.B. Du Bois’ name in a tweet posted hours earlier — but its apology contained another misspelling.
The Department of Education’s original tweet misspelled the surname of Du Bois—a black historian, sociologist, civil rights activist and co-founder of the NAACP—as “DeBois.” It corrected that spelling in another tweet posted three and a half hours later, but did not delete the original post.
Education must not simply teach work – it must teach life. – W.E.B. DeBois pic.twitter.com/Re4cWkPSFA
— US Dept of Education (@usedgov) February 12, 2017
“Education must not simply teach work – it must teach life.” – W.E.B. Du Bois pic.twitter.com/hSg4R1rLHH
— US Dept of Education (@usedgov) February 12, 2017
In its subsequent apology, the Department of Education misspelled the word “apologies” as “apologizes.”
The misspelled apology has since been deleted but is still accessible via the Internet Archive.
Twitter was quick to note the irony of the Department of Education falling victim to not one but two misspellings in a row.
It took the Education Department over 4 hours to fix this typo. And then their apology had another typo. pic.twitter.com/KTGuD0WNPH
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 12, 2017
Normally not into calling out spelling errors on Twitter because we’ve all been there. But you’re the Department of Education. Of America. https://t.co/cBFjCgLn4t
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 12, 2017
Um. You spelled his name wrong. It’s DuBois. Happy Black History Month, everybody! https://t.co/q1TLQpH386
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) February 12, 2017
W.E.B. DeBois is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more, I notice.
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) February 12, 2017
Well, at least they spelled W.E.B. correctly pic.twitter.com/kC9hfPsacK
— Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) February 12, 2017
@usedgov OMG, it’s DuBois. Who is in charge over there?…oh, wait, I get it.
— Jennifer Morgan (@ProfJLMorgan) February 12, 2017
It’d be hilarious if someone at the Dept. of Education is trolling Betsy DeVos - product of a pricey private school education. This is on her watch.
Amazing that Pres. Obama has time to send out these tweets whilst on vacation.
Duh Vos’ Duhpartment in akshun.
Ian Milhiser’s tweet made me LOL.
In their defense, he’s black with a French name. Who can be bothered to get that right? They’re probably looking into deporting him as we speak. Wait till they figure out he’s already dead.