Former president George H.W. Bush announced the death of N𒁏elson Mandela on Sunday morning when his spokesman sent out a statement of mourning.
There was just one problem with the graci🍒ous letter: Mandela is not actually d🔜ead.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath tweeted later Sunday that it ꧂was his mistake and he had misread a news flash on the Washington Post’s we📖bsite.
“Stupid mistake by mꩲe,” McGrath wrote. “ꦏApologies to all.”
The statement read, according to US Today: “Barbara and I mourn the passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we have had the privilege to know. As President, I watched in wonder as Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers following 26 years of wrongful imprisonment — setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all. He was a man of tremendous moral courage, who changed the course of history in his country. Barbara and I had great respect for President Mandela, and send our condolences to his family and countrymen.”
꧅The South African presidency denied the statement, saying Mandela is still alive,ꦛ according to BNO News.
“It is clearly incorrect,” South African presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said. “We see it as an error on [Bush’s] side.”
The 41 stmnt sent this morning was the result of my mis-reading the header on the WaPo news flash. Stupid mistake by me. Apolog𒉰ies to all.
— Jim McGrath (@jgm41)
Maharaj said his people are not maki💙ng a big deal ab🐻out it.
Mandela went home in an ambulance on Sunday ღafter nearly💃 three months in a hospital that became the focus of a global outpouring of concern, but authorities said the health of the former South African president remained critical and sometimes unstable.
The return of the 95-year-old leader of the anti-apartheid movement to his home in an 𓂃affluent neighborhood of Johannesburg allows his family to share time with hi🔯m in a more intimate setting.
The office of South African President Jacob Zuma said Mandela will receivไe the same level of i🐷ntensive care that he did in the hospital, administered by the same doctors.