Auto-correct can be your friend, sometimes. Other times it can lead to awkward or offensive word changes by accident.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) says the tool is partially responsible for a tweet that landed him in hot water.
Late on Tuesday night, Cramer responded to a video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaking about the coronavirus relief bill.
“She’s retarded,” Cramer responded in a now-deleted tweet.
I just got off the phone with Sen. @kevincramer who said it was a typo and he meant to type “ridiculous” instead of “retarded.” #ndpol pic.twitter.com/MK0pv79DL1
— Jeremy Turley (@jeremyjturley) March 25, 2020
Forum News Service reported that Cramer deleted the tweet about 10-minutes after it was posted. He told the outlet he meant to write “ridiculous.”
However, he said that his “fat fingers” and the auto-correct tool led to the insensitive tweet. He said that he does not use that kind of language and noted that it “is offensive because of its historical use toward people with disabilities.”
Additionally, he said he is “really sorry this incident happened.”
North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Chairwoman Kylie Oversen told the outlet that there is “not a shot that [Cramer] is telling the truth.” She claimed that it would only be possible for auto-correct to change the word if Cramer regularly used it.
The incident comes as tensions were running high in the Senate after Democrats blocked Republicans from advancing a coronavirus relief bill two days in a row.