Microsoft Apologizes For Offensive Amy Winehouse Tweet [Microsoft UK Offends Some By Encouraging People To Buy The Late Singer's Song From Zune Store]

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Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London flat this past weekend, and many folks have issued condolences for the late star who had her share of personal troubles. However, tech giant Microsoft is coming under fire their Tweet mentioning Amy Winehouse’s passing, which encouraged people to buy Winehouse songs on the Zune service.

Microsoft UK’s PR Twitter feed issued the following Tweet:

Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking ‘Back to Black’ over at Zune

That was followed by a link to the Zune website where you can buy the Winehouse album. Immediately, angry Winehouse fans or just angry folks in general began attacking Microsoft for seemingly trying to commercialize and profit on Winehouse’ death.

“talk about cashing in on someones death!” wrote Twitter user @simacca. “Crass much?” added @B12Simon. Microsoft UK later apologized, adding:

Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated. Far from the case, we assure you.

Then, randomly, Microsoft UK added this condolence:

With Amy W’s passing, the world has lost a huge talent. Our thoughts are with Amy’s family and friends at this very sad time.

Although many folks seem to be taking the Winehouse download Tweet the wrong way, others are wondering what the difference is between that and what has been done on other music stores. The front page of iTunes now has Amy Winehouse front and center with the title “Remembering Amy Winehouse.” Likewise, Amazon’s MP3 Store has a sidebar dedicated to the fallen singer, titled “Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011.” So, what’s the difference between Microsoft shilling on Twitter for their Zune service and Apple and Amazon putting the singer’s songs front and center?

Despite Microsoft apologizing for the Tweet, they have yet to delete it from their @Tweetbox360 account where it was originally posted.

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