Penguins admit to altering Twitter photo showing fans wearing masks
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Twitter account on Thursday was making news for the wrong reasons.
A seemingly innocuous tweet from the team’s verified account Wednesday showed a Getty Images photo of fans applauding in the stands, with text saying, “Thanks for the continued support, Penguins fans.” Tuesday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers marked the first time fans were permitted to attend a game at PPG Paints Arena this season.
The photo showed fans socially distanced and wearing masks properly.
A look at the original Getty Images photo, however, shows the image that the Penguins tweeted seemingly had been altered slightly to show that every fan in the photo wore a mask properly.
Many were quick to call out the difference and accuse the Penguins of photoshopping the image.
The Penguins released a statement Thursday afternoon saying “they are taking all precautions to enforce the use of masks to keep our fans safe” and have adopted a “zero-tolerance policy” to wearing them.
“While perhaps well intended, our staffer should not have altered a wide crowd photo to adjust masks on faces of even a few fans who were not strictly following the rules. Our social media team should never send out altered photos to our fan base. This is a violation of our social media and safety policy, and this staffer has been disciplined,” the statement said.
The tweet in question had more than 70 replies and 35 quote tweets as of Thursday afternoon, and had been retweeted more than 160 times in total.
Zach Brendza is a Tribune-Review digital producer. You can contact Zach at 724-850-1288, zbrendza@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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