Walmart apologized Wednesday for a tweet that called Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley a sore loser for contesting President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election.
The now deleted tweet, “Go ahead. Get your 2 hour debate. #soreloser,” was mistakenly sent by a member of Walmart’s social media team who meant to publish it on their personal account, the company said.
The hashtag #BoycottWalmart began to trend on Twitter shortly after it appeared on the company’s official Twitter account.
The tweet was a response to Hawley’s announcement that he plans to raise objections next week when Congress meets to affirm Biden’s victory. The objections won’t alter the election results, but it could delay the certification of Biden’s win.
“We have removed the post and have no intention of commenting on the subject of certifying the electoral college,” Walmart said in a prepared statement. “We apologize to Senator Hawley for this error and any confusion about our position.”
President Donald Trump has, without evidence, said there was widespread fraud in the election and has pushed Republican Senators to back him up. But the Electoral College has already cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory and numerous court challenges have been thrown out or rejected.
Still, Hawley responded to Walmart with his own tweets Wednesday, asking the company if it would “apologize for using slave labor,” and for the “pathetic wages you pay your workers as you drive mom and pop stores out of business.”
Walmart and other major retailers like Target and Amazon pay well above the federally mandated minimum wage.