The Onion apologizes for offensive Quvenzhane Wallis tweet

It appears we finally know where the line of too offensive is for The Onion.

For the most part, no one is safe from the brutal mockery of "America's Finest News Source."

But after a tweet about 9-year-old best actress nominee Quvenzhane Wallis horrified the Onion's followers, the satire organization apologized in a rare moment of sincerity.

CEO Steve Hannah wrote on the Onion's Facebook page Monday morning:

Feb. 25, 2013

Related

• Oscars 2013: Did Seth MacFarlane cross a line?
• Game of Thrones Season 3 trailer has finally arrived
• 'No. 1 deadbeat parent' jailed after 11 years for $1.2M outstanding child support
• Rush Limbaugh: 'Ashamed of my country' [AUDIO]
• Soledad O'Brien leaving CNN to start production company
• Kid President asked by President Obama to make announcement, freaks out adorably [VIDEO]

Dear Readers,

On behalf of The Onion, I offer my personal apology to Quvenzhané Wallis and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the tweet that was circulated last night during the Oscars. It was crude and offensive—not to mention inconsistent with The Onion’s commitment to parody and satire, however biting.

No person should be subjected to such a senseless, humorless comment masquerading as satire.

The tweet was taken down within an hour of publication. We have instituted new and tighter Twitter procedures to ensure that this kind of mistake does not occur again.

In addition, we are taking immediate steps to discipline those individuals responsible.

Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better. All of us at The Onion are deeply sorry.

Advertisement

Sincerely,

Steve Hannah CEO The Onion

For what it's worth, no one seemed too offended (or surprised) when host Seth MacFarlane joked that "In 16 years Quvenzhané Wallis will be too young to date George Clooney."

Here's the Onion's offending tweet, calling Quvenzhane "kind of a c***."

The Onion "deleted the tweet after people responded with outrage (but naturally, screenshots had been captured by multiple people).

I hope the ppl who run @theonion get rid of that insensitve fool they put in charge of their Twitter account tonight. Shameful TL! #Oscars

— MariaNYC (@MariaNYC) February 25, 2013

@kensweet yes and if @theonion thinks it's funny to tweet that, they have lost their minds.

— Micheline Maynard (@MickiMaynard) February 25, 2013

Whoever is tweeting for @theonion tonight needs to be jobless by morning.

— katherine (@capecodgurl) February 25, 2013