Duolingo – yes, the language app that terrorises people – is under fire for making an NSFW tweet about Katy Perry on their social media.

Up until a couple of days ago, the Duolingo app was famous for terrorising people into doing their daily lessons so they could ask someone where the horse would drink coffee in a different language. Now, the app and its mascot – a green owl – are under fire for making an NSFW comment about Katy Perry. 

A few days ago, a throwback clip of Katy Perry being doused with green slime at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards started doing rounds on the internet. Someone from the Duolingo social media team must have come across it and decide to retweet it with the caption: “Hold up is that my –” 

Yeah. Needless to say, the implication of what they meant was not lost on people. And while a few were down for the joke, there were others who pointed out that the joke was inappropriate for an educational app hosting a large number of children as customers. 

“Hi Duo, my 12 year old son is working on his Italian and loves the app. He’s asking me what this tweet means, can you explain it to him?” a Twitter user replied under the tweet. To this, the account doubled down and said: “Perdón, no respondo al inglés.” (Sorry, I do not respond to English.) 

In another tweet, the account defended the initial tweet and said: “We’re all thinking it, I just said it.” In another tweet, it added: “^^this is your sign to log off Twitter and do your lesson.” 

For context, this isn’t too out of character for the app – perhaps a way of capitalising on a cult favourite app that often gets the meme treatment by fans. On Tiktok, for example, the app is famous for thirsting after Dua Lipa, even going so far as to asking for ‘feet pics’. 

This isn’t also the first time, however, that their jokes have stirred controversy. During the height of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, the brand came under fire for making light of the case. The comment was later deleted, and the employee apologised. 

“I made a mistake. It’s deleted and I’m listening. I’m 24 – a yr out of college – managing an account that I didn’t expect to grow how it did & learning social responsibility on a curve. Taking full ownership. It’s an early career lesson for me and I’m learning to be better.” the employee said. 

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