A landmark building in New York found out Sunday evening that its empire does not extend to Philadelphia.
Someone at the Empire State Building thought it was a good idea to light up the vaunted skyscraper in green and white to celebrate the NFC title won by the Philadelphia Eagles.
“Fly @Eagles Fly! We’re going Green and White in honor of the Eagles NFC Championship Victory,” the official Empire State Building account tweeted, oblivious not only to the sentiments of the building’s home turf but also to the rules of capitalization.
That would be the hated Philadelphia Eagles, at least in the tri-state area surrounding New York City.
In response, the rest of Twitter lit up brighter than the skyscraper. Longtime New York Giants PR maven Pat Hanlon chimed in: “Whoever thought this is a good idea needs to start updating their credentials!” and then added: “And I’ll write the last line for that person. I’m a dumba–!”
The New York City Sanitation Department piled on. “For anyone who finds this as treacherous, traitorous and unforgivable as we do,” the account tweeted, “just pretend it’s green and white for #NewYorksStrongest. We take out the trash every day…and next year, that’ll include the Eagles.”
And, of course, the NYC Buildings department weighed in: “How are we going to explain this to all the other buildings. They looked up to you.”
The ill-fated avian honor not only set off emotions, it briefly moved markets. In after-hours trading after the tweet, shares of Empire State Realty Trust Inc., the owner of the building, dipped 2% to $7.79.
Hours later, the building turned red, but it was not blushing with embarrassment, it was noting the Kansas City Chiefs’ win in the AFC Championship Game. Still, the Twitter account tried to atone for its green period.
“That hurt us more than it hurt you,” the ESB’s follow-up post read.
Finally, Empire State Twitter signed off with one last thought: “Good night.”
(This post was updated to add the post Chiefs’ game exchange.)
