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The tragic shootings at an Aurora, Colorado theater have shocked and saddened the whole nation. The outpouring of support and sympathy has been incredible. It’s comforting to know that we can all come together.

Of course, with any tragedy there will be those people who try to use it to advance their own agenda. People on both sides of the gun control issue were out in force only a few hours after the shooting. That is to be expected.

And there are those people who think a national tragedy is the perfect time to try out their stand up routine and make jokes about it. There is no accounting for taste but, again, it’s expected.

But nothing compares to the insensitive pricks over at CelebBoutique.com. (I almost hate giving out their name and getting them any type of publicity, but it seems like a necessary evil to get my point across.) These idiots used the shootings in Aurora to promote one of their dresses. I know, it seems almost impossible that some people could be that tone deaf but they are. 

Some genius at the company tweeted out this, just hours after the shootings:

“@celebboutique: #Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ;)”

I don’t know what upset me the most, the complete insensitivity of the tweet or the stupid “winky” emoticon at the end. It’s almost like they wanted us to know that they were just having fun with the whole thing.

I understand if you are in business you need to sell stuff no matter what is happening in the world. I get it. But to try to be “clever” by using a tragedy where 12 people are dead and families are grieving to sell a dress goes way over the line.

The reaction on Twitter was fast and severe. Everyone now hates Celeb Boutique. I called for the person who tweeted that to be fired. Others vowed to never shop with them as long as they live.

The company has removed the offending tweet and stated that they did not know the trending topic #Aurora was about the shootings in Colorado. They claim that their PR team is not based in the US and did not check to see what #Aurora was all about. I find this a little too convenient. How hard is it to click on a link and see what people are talking about? Anyone who uses Twitter knows how easy that is.

And if you are in a PR department, you better damn well know what you are talking about.

They say that any publicity is good publicity, but I feel that this will not end well for this company.

Israel Soliz

Israel is a sports blogger, contributor to GlobalGrind.com and owner of SportsBrosWorld.com