National Football League

Falcons' mascot under fire for tweet

Published Nov. 5, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Freddie Falcon, the Atlanta Falcons' mascot, has a Twitter account — and, like many Twitter users, Freddie has found himself apologizing for an insensitive tweet.

Before Sunday's game against the Panthers, Freddie participated in the Out of Darkness Walk, an Atlanta charity event benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Later that evening, the Falcons lost, bringing the team's season record to 2-6. Freddie found a joke in there somewhere.

"Had a good time at the #ood suicide prevention walk today," read a since-deleted tweet. "I may need to go back if our season continues the way it is..."

Within two hours, Freddie was apologizing and the AFSP was scolding Freddie via a press release.

"For the more than 1,000 survivors of suicide loss who participated in today's walk, suicide prevention is no laughing matter," read the AFSP's release. "We hope everyone who joined us today, including Freddie, support our vision for a world without suicide. Recently, there have been a string of NFL suicides, including former Atlanta Falcons safety Ray Easterling. We'd love to provide a suicide prevention training for our hometown NFL team and see them more involved in this topic, which claims more than 1,000 Georgian lives each year."