Keith Ellison deletes 'Nothing like coke addicted James Brown to close GOP convention' tweet [UPDATE]

Ellison made light of the Godfather of Soul's performance enhancing drug of choice.

SEE ALSO: Keith Ellison retweets message calling Mitt Romney "douchebag," claims it was accident

The world was introduced to Eastwooding, Mitt delivered his speech, and the GOP convention wrapped up last night to the sounds of James Brown's 1985 hit, "Living in America."

Nothing too out of the norm there, but U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (or one of his staffers) apparently couldn't resist the urge to go "behind the music," and in so doing, get the congressman in some hot water.

Here's what Ellison tweeted as Mitt and his family paraded around the stage to the funky sounds of the Godfather of Soul:

Politwoops

The tweet was deleted after just one minute, but that was long enough to create a shitstorm. One Chris Fields supporter offered up this reaction:

Dear @keithellison, please keep tweeting. You're going to hit your Anthony Weiner moment eventually.

-- Jeff Kolb (@jpkolb) August 31, 2012

Meanwhile, Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, speculated about Ellison's motivation for deleting the ill-considered tweet:

Any chance Keith Ellison deleted that post because James Brown was allegedly on PCP not coke? #stribpol #ProbablyNot

-- Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) August 31, 2012

Minutes later, Ellison's official Twitter account provided a Keith-didn't-do-it explanation:

I work for Rep Ellison & tweeted from this acct a comment about James Brown. Rep Ellison did not send the tweet & I apologize for the error.

-- Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) August 31, 2012

The staffer hasn't yet identified him- or herself despite requests to do so.

This isn't the first time Ellison finds himself taking heat for a Romney-related Twitter gaffe. In April, the congressman retweeted a message calling Mitt Romney "A heartless douchebag who doesn't like animals or small children." Ellison's communications director later claimed the retweet was accidental.

Whatever the case, we find it hard to get too riled up over the "James Brown was a cokehead" tweet. After all, without a little performance enhancement, how else would one of the funkiest people to ever grace the planet have been able to pull off his legendary dance-until-you-drop performances? And here's a factoid we bit you didn't know -- Brown, a black man from the south, was actually a staunch, lifelong Republican.

:: UPDATE ::

This morning, Ellison himself hopped on Twitter (at least, we presume it was Ellison himself) and addressed his latest social media fiasco.

I didn't author tweet re James Brown last nite, but I apologize. I'm a JB fan. Also, I would never denigrate anyone in recovery.

-- Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) August 31, 2012

So apparently, the funkiness of James Brown is one of the few things Republicans and Democrats can agree on.