Premier denies Twitter slip-up on America's Cup (Update 1)

So, did he or didn't he?

Mystery surrounds whether or not Premier Michael Dunkley tweeted about Bermuda being in the final two places to host the 2017 America’s Cup.

The Royal Gazette ran an article this morning stating the Premier “presumably let his excitement get the better of him by authoring a tweet suggesting that Bermuda had made the final round of bidding… Last night’s tweet was hastily removed, no doubt because an official announcement is due to be made by the middle of next week”. 

The Royal Gazette ran an article this morning stating the Premier “presumably let his excitement get the better of him by authoring a tweet suggesting that Bermuda had made the final round of bidding… Last night’s tweet was hastily removed, no doubt because an official announcement is due to be made by the middle of next week”.

However, when the Bermuda Sun asked on social media if anyone had managed to get a screenshot of the Premier’s Tweet, Mr Dunkley himself replied on Twitter: “No because it did not happen!”

We reached out to Dexter Smith, Head of Sport at the Gazette, who wrote the story. But he had no comment on the Premier's denial about the Tweet.

Bermuda, along with Chicago and San Diego are in the running to host the 2017 America’s Cup. An announcement narrowing the field to two finallists is expected shortly. Hosting the event would be a coup for Bermuda and help to boost the economy.

So far, several teams have announced challenges for the 2017 event including ones by Sir Ben Ainslie for the UK, Team Luna Rossa from Italy, team New Zealand and Team Australia. 

"There is no evidence that the alleged tweet exists or was ever published and, as a result, the story cannot be verified. The newspaper apologises to Mr Dunkley for any harm or embarrassment caused by the story."