BOSTON — Boston police are facing heavy criticism online for a now-deleted Twitter post for Black History Month that celebrated a white man.

The original post on the department's official Twitter account Sunday was in honor of former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach. The department tweeted that it was paying tribute to Auerbach for being the first NBA coach to draft a black player, start five African-American players, and hire the NBA's first African-American head coach.

Several Twitter users responded by calling the post "tone-deaf" and "clueless."

The tweet was deleted less than an hour after it was posted, and the department replaced it with a tweet that said "Our intentions were never to offend."

The department later posted a tweet in honor of Bill Russell, the NBA's first black head coach.

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This story has been corrected to show that the original tweet was Sunday not Saturday and that Auerbach was the first to 'hire' an African-American coach, not 'fire.'