Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has found itself embroiled in another controversy after an ill-fated tweet before an English Premier League game between Liverpool and Newcastle game sparked an enormous public outcry.

Paddy Power, known for dipping its toes in controversy, tweeted before the game that “Newcastle have suffered more Kop beatings over the last 20 years than an unarmed African-American male,” alluding to the famous home end at Anfield and the rash of recent incidents in the US where unarmed African-Americans were killed by police officials. The joke was intended to generate interest in the company’s betting markets for the game itself. But as has been the case numerous times in the past, Paddy’s derogatory attempts at humor turned into another round of public backlash from the masses.

The tweet has since been deleted and a Paddy spokesman has officially apologized for the company posting it on its Twitter account, telling CNN that the message was supposed to a joke and that “no offense was meant” by it. But even the apology did little to appease Twitter users who condemned the betting company for another out-of-line joke that touched on a serious issue in the US these days.

Some have even gone as far as calling Paddy Power “racist,” which would be another in the long list of transgressions the company has sowed in recent years. This tweet referencing police brutality issues in the US crossed that line from crass and tasteless to downright offensive.