Edinburgh author Irvine Welsh has apologised over a 'crass and careless' tweet about the passing of the Queen after it caused upset online. The author said that the tweet was not very good or funny and it was not his place to say how people should feel.
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Queen Elizabeth II passed away peacefully at Balmoral on September 9 and her funeral took place at Westminster Abbey in London yesterday, September 19.
The deleted tweet read: "Question: would having a w*** over an image of the younger queen be respect or disrespect? (Asking for a friend).
It received over 400 shares and 2000 likes when it was tweeted the morning of Her Majesty's funeral. It was then deleted and the apology followed at 2.30am on Tuesday September 20.
Irvine Welsh wrote on social media site Twitter: "I deleted my tweet about the Queen. It was crass and classless and just not very good or funny.
"I don’t profess to understand how people get upset about such things, but they do and in many cases their pain is genuine. It’s not my place to say how people should feel."
Some fans thanked the author for his admittance of misjudgment. One social media user, Anna Devine wrote: "Thank you. it’s wise to understand how much she meant to people. Our older generation held her in high regard. During my time at Alzheimer Scotland charity it was one of the topics I used to stimulate conversation with so many people living with dementia and evoke happy memories."
Lenny Sherman said: "I don’t know what it was about Irvine, but fair play it takes a decent person to do something like this. A few more people should take a leaf out of your book, it’s ok to hold our hands up sometimes.
"Top banana, respect Sir."
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While Zamar Zahid said: "You will always challenge perspectives and push boundaries. People who follow you should know that. Respect to you for putting other peoples feelings first but personally I follow you for those reasons and more."
Darren Day added: "It never ceases to amaze me how people put out a grovelling apology when they realise that it may well have repercussions on their careers, or even when they have a new book out! Rendering the apology void!"
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