Kanye West's Yeezy 3 presentation and album release event at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 11, 2016 in New York City.
Rex Features
Kanye West has taken a lot off flack lately, but never from a national airline.
Virgin Australia has apologized and blamed a hacker after the carrier’s official Twitter account blasted a message which called the rapper a “douche” and suggested he “eat a dick.”
The airline has since deleted the tweet, a response to Kanye’s boast his new album The Life of Pablo deserved a “30 out of 10” review. The indelicate message, however, has been saved for posterity and can be seen below.
The airline apologized for “any offence caused” and said the tweet was published by someone not on its payroll. An investigation is apparently in motion.
“A recent tweet on our account was not published by a Virgin Australia employee and we are investigating the matter. We apologise for any offence caused,” wrote the company in a pair of tweets.
A recent tweet on our account was not published by a Virgin Australia employee and we are investigating the matter.
— Virgin Australia (@VirginAustralia) February 16, 2016
2/2 We apologise for any offence caused.
— Virgin Australia (@VirginAustralia) February 16, 2016
West’s seventh album finally dropped last week but was overshadowed by a confusing release strategy and the controversial lyric to the song “Famous,” which features the line: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.”
A representative for Taylor Swift told Billboard she had cautioned Kanye about “releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message” and that she was never told about the contentious lyric.