The U.S. Embassy in Australia issued a lighthearted apology on Monday for an invitation to a "cat pajama-jam" featuring a photo of a cat dressed as the Sesame Street character Cookie Monster that was accidentally sent out by email.
US embassy apologizes after mistakenly sending Cookie Monster #cat invitation. https://t.co/OAGLrFY8go @guardian @KFFCats pic.twitter.com/EIrGfpDAN4
— Emily Bazar (@emilybazar) October 15, 2018
The email, reportedly sent from the State Department, featured some Latin text and an RSVP button to the event, according to The Australian Associated Press.
Spokesperson Gavin Sundwall told the AAP the email was a "training error" sent by new staff testing out a newsletter platform. It's unclear how many people received the invitation.
"Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to attend this 'cat pajama-jam' party, but such an event falls well outside our area of expertise," Sundwall said.
We are actually LOLing here in NZ @USAembassyinOZ 🤣🤣🤣https://t.co/WziJ8TTiUh pic.twitter.com/26qWgMo5ll
— US Embassy NZ 🇺🇸🇳🇿 (@usembassynz) October 15, 2018
He added that "strong new management controls" would prevent a repeat of the mistake.
There is no information on the photo's origins, but a search by NPR did trace the image to a very pleasing Pinterest page titled "Cats/Dress-up."
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