Awkward tweet The AFL Footy Show deleted

IT WAS meant to be a harmless tweet, but the timing could not have been worse and it had to be taken down.

IT WAS meant to be a harmless tweet.

“Happy #ValentinesDay from the #AFLFootyShow!” it read.

But the timing could not have been worse.

As news broke that Garry Lyon was allegedly involved in an affair with the ex-wife of his The AFL Footy Show colleague Billy Brownless, the tweet was sent out on the official Footy Show account.

It featured a photograph of Brownless in a tux, holding a single rose.

The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before it was spotted by Australian NBA star Andrew Bogut, who sent it out to his 203,000 followers.

👀👀🤔RT @AFLFootyShow: Happy #ValentinesDay from the #AFLFootyShow! https://t.co/Ia1rt6L7hM

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) February 14, 2016

Bogut then followed with a tweet that read: “#nowdeleted #socialmediamanagerfired?”

👀👀🤔🤔 #nowdeleted #socialmediamanagerfired? pic.twitter.com/cUwSaM7iBD

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) February 14, 2016

A spokesperson for Channel 9 said the tweet had initially been pre-scheduled and was meant to be deleted, but was ultimately published in error. “It was an unfortunate post that should never have gone out,” the spokesperson told news.com.au.

Meanwhile, Former AFL star Jonathan Brown weighed into the scandal that has seen Lyon step away from the show after revealing he is battling depression.

Brown said he was mates with both Lyon and Brownless and “understood” their relationship.

“[They are] very tight, certainly it goes back a long way,” Brown said on Nova’s 100’s Chrissie, Sam & Browny.

“I was out on the road with the boys in November as part of a bit of stage show I did also with Sam Newman and Damian Barrett as well as Billy and Gaz.

“Everything was going well then, everything was fine in November.”

Brown said he was not close enough to the pair to know what was going on “behind the scenes”.

“But their relationship was very healthy, we shared plenty of laughs and good times out there,” Brown added.

“I’ve been part of the Channel Nine family previously before going over to Foxtel, they are a very tight family there as well, certainly the on-air talent, but certainly it would be affecting them and their own families as well.

“This is a big situation, whether they can recover from this, certainly Billy and Garry’s relationship and also The Footy Show situation, both characters are an integral part of The Footy Show, which has been really the highest rating TV show for a long time now.”

Garry and Melissa Lyon with Nicky and Billy Brownless.

Discussing Lyon’s mental health issues, Brown added: “You don’t want to downplay the mental health struggles people go through, you don’t know their situation until you are going through it yourself I suppose.

“Everyone is going to be critical of Gaz and rightly so if he has stuffed up, he’s going to cop plenty of criticism, you can’t downplay the mental health he is going through and not just write it off as, ‘Oh he’s just blaming mental health for the reasons as to why.’

Brown likened the situation to Wayne Carey’s affair with the wife of his North Melbourne teammate Anthony Stevens that rocked the AFL in 2002.

“I think everyone’s in shock,” Brown said.

“We saw obviously quite a few years ago the Wayne Carey situation and Anthony Steven’s wife, it goes beyond football, everyone can well, not relate, but everyone likes to see the salacious things happen.

“It is the ultimate betrayal (for mates). Mates get fired up, blokes get fired up, everyone gets fired up.

Former AFL star Jonathan Brown described it as the “ultimate betrayal”.

Brown said some “wild stories had been going around” relating to Lyon, but he didn’t want to speculate.

“There has been a lot of phone calls, people trying to find out what the hell has happened.

“I haven’t spoken to the boys, until you really know, they’re the only guys that really know what happened.”

Brown said he had not called either men, but had sent one of them a text messages.

“I’ve touched base with one of the boys, not called. Blokes are not great with this situation, we are not great with talking about our feelings.”

If you or someone you know is in need of crisis or suicide prevention support, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp.

Originally published as Awkward tweet The AFL Footy Show deleted