PR Newswire apologized and fired a staffer yesterday after a news release for a mental health group’s event carried the slugline “loony bin rally.”

“A PR Newswire staff member incorrectly slugged the release ‘loony bin rally,’” read a statement from PRN. “PR Newswire understands that such terminology feeds the prejudice and discrimination associated with mental illnesses and will take steps to ensure that nothing like this occurs in the future.”


The release was issued by the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania to announce a Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally of homeless advocacy organizations.

The snafu was covered by Philadelphia Daily News columnist Dan Gross, who noted an MHA official was “furious and offended” but also “devastated” to learn that the ignorant employee was fired.

[Gawker also exhibited some schadenfreude over the episode.]