BOSTON (CBS) – The New England Patriots have apologized after a social media celebration went horribly wrong.

The Pats wanted to express their gratitude to their Twitter followers Thursday with a simple message:

"Thanks for helping us become the first NFL team with 1 million followers!"

Fans who re-tweeted the post would get an automated personalized thank you message in reply, complete with a photo showing their twitter handle as the name on the back of a Patriots jersey.

But someone with an account called "@IHATE(racial slur)" re-tweeted the post. The hateful twitter handle ended up on the back of the jersey and the photo quickly spread online.

The Patriots deleted the tweet and issued this apology:

The apology had been re-tweeted more than 3,700 times by Friday morning.

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