Stephen King is nothing if not a snarky tweeter when it comes to his opinions on Donald Trump and the Republican party. But on Thursday, the legendary horror author jumped the gun on a tweet about a train wreck involving the GOP — which caused a train wreck of a PR crisis for King.
King tweeted some colorful commentary about a West Virginia accident in which a train carrying several Republican members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, hit a truck on its way to a retreat.
“A trainload of Republicans on their way to a pricey retreat hit a garbage truck. My friend Russ calls that karma,” King tweeted.
Soon after King fired off the message, readers told him the truck driver in the accident had died. So King tweeted, “Of COURSE sorry the truck driver died.”
A few hours later, King came back to tweet a full apology: “A rather thoughtless tweet from me concerning the train-truck crash, for which I apologize (if one is necessary). It should be pointed out, too, that those Republican politicians, who can be heartless when they vote, immediately got out to help.”
Well, turns out the driver didn’t actually die. According to CNN, he was seriously injured, but is still alive. However, there was one fatality in the crash, a passenger who was not a member of Congress. The incident resulted in minor injuries for other passengers.
Following the news of the driver’s condition, King retweeted a request for a GoFundMe campaign for the victim.
See King’s tweets below.
A trainload of Republicans on their way to a pricey retreat hit a garbage truck. My friend Russ calls that karma.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 1, 2018
Of COURSE sorry the truck driver died.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 1, 2018
A rather thoughtless tweet from me concerning the train-truck crash, for which I apologize (if one is necessary). It should be pointed out, too, that those Republican politicians, who can be heartless when they vote, immediately got out to help.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 1, 2018
We spent yesterday covering a train accident because hundreds of members of Congress were on board.
But the real tragedy is Chris Foley, who was killed. His family and baby need your support — if you’re able, please consider helping them. https://t.co/YOJuSdb2F1
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) February 2, 2018