Ryanair once deleted a viral tweet about Prince William after Kensington Palace complained, says ex-head of social

• Irish airline Ryanair has a reputation for provocative social media posts.
• Back in 2022, it appeared to make light of social-media rumors about Prince William.

Ryanair took down a viral X post after Kensington Palace complained, its former social media chief told the podcast "Creator Playbooks."

The Irish airline has built a reputation for its provocative posts, such as joking about Selena Gomez's social-media hiatus and trolling a passenger who proposed to his girlfriend in the air.

But back in 2022, Ryanair fell foul of the British royal family after appearing to make light of rumors circulating about Prince William, said Michael Corcoran, its then-head of social.

"We actually started to put language in like 'Prince William' and all these things, and if we would have done that we were toast. It was liable [for] defamation. So we were able to strip it back to the point where it could have been any sort of William," he told "Creator Playbooks."

"It could be interpreted in so many ways, but we knew that the timing of it and when it went out, the audience will know exactly what would happen," he added.

Corcoran said he was playing with his dog one evening when he learned William's team had complained about the post.

"Kensington Palace called and asked if we could remove the tweet, or they're looking for a public apology from our CEO, or a statement to explain," Corcoran said.

"At this stage, we got what we needed for it. Got loads of reach — millions of reach — people were taking screenshots and sharing it," he added. "And we said we're not going to apologize for it because we haven't done anything wrong."

He said Ryanair deleted the tweet without apologizing, and the palace then thanked the company for doing so.

Ryanair and Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.