This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It takes only an instant, and 140 characters, to embarrass yourself — or the TV station where you work — on Twitter.

Somebody at KTVX, the ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City, apparently learned that lesson a minute too late.

Around 10 a.m. today, somebody using KTVX's Twitter feed sent out a message: "I'm downtown eating. Surrounded by Mormons and repressed sexual energy."

The post was deleted not long after it went up, but not before enough people saw it (and got a screengrab of it, pictured above) to immortalize it.

Some people thought it was funny, a few were offended, and some speculated that some KTVX employee mixed up his/her personal Twitter account with the company feed.

UPDATE: The station posted an apology at about 12:45 p.m. on its feed: "A personal tweet went out that in no way is consistent with the station views. This issue has been addressed and we apologize for the tweet."

UPDATE, part 2: Matt Jaquint, KTVX's general manager, said today that "the employee has offered their [sic] resignation, and we have accepted it." He would not identify the employee, but said he or she was not an on-air personality.