 CLEVELAND, Ohio — A website promoting events in Cleveland created outrage Monday when a Facebook post about a gingerbread-house-building event at a local restaurant referenced the kidnapping and sexual assault of three women for 10 years. “It is never OK to make light of such serious issues, and I take full and personal responsibility for this post ever being published,” CoolCleveland publisher Thomas Mulready wrote in a statement. “We apologize to anyone who may have read this egregious post, to victims and survivors, and to the community of Cleveland,” Mulready says in the statement on the CoolCleveland website. When we started CoolCleveland over 16 years ago, it was to help and support the cool events, cool people and cool venues in our region, not to cause further harm and pain.” 
 
 In a since-deleted post, the website promoted a “gingerbread construction zone” event at the TownHall restaurant on Thursday — by noting the recent housing crisis and then jokingly referencing the infamous “House of Horrors” case that rocked the local community in 2013. Facebook 
 
 The post to promote an event Thursday at TownHall restaurant on West 25th Street says the foreclosure crisis resulted in many “empty gingerbread houses” in Cleveland that are dens for “cracker addicts.” It then mentions a “notorious case” of three “missing gingerbread women were found held as gingerbread sex slaves for 10 years." “In one notorious case, three missing gingerbread women were found held as gingerbread sex slaves for 10 years, while gingerbread police remained baffled … But there is a solution!” 
 
 The post was a clear reference to victims Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus — the three women kidnapped by Ariel Castro and held captive in the monster’s Cleveland home before their daring escape. In his statement, Mulready said he took “full and personal responsibility” for the post and called it “inexcusable and inappropriate.” 
 
 Attempts to reach representatives with CoolCleveland were unsuccessful Monday night. “You can start to earn people’s trust back by being transparent about who you’re giving to.” 
 
 Kayla Barnes, director of communications for TownHall, said the restaurant was completely blindsided by the tone-deaf post. “We had no prior knowledge of the article, nor did we approve the article in any way,” Barnes told Cleveland.com. “The moment we saw the post, I personally called CoolCleveland to express the inappropriateness and requested it be taken down immediately.” 
 
 In his statement, Mulready says TownHall had nothing to do with the CoolCleveland Facebook post. He also says staff changes already have been made at the website, but he was not specific. “Although we had installed safeguards to ensure content review, we have now instituted a more rigorous internal system to ensure that all content published by CoolCleveland meets our standards and continues to help the community and promote the coolness all around us,” Mulready says. “I take full responsibility for the human error that allowed the post to be published in the first place.” 
 
 The site has since donated to a nonprofit organization that helps survivors and victims and is arranging additional training for its staffers and contributors, Mulready said, but he did not elaborate.
– A website is apologizing after one of its writers made a very ill-advised holiday joke on Facebook. CoolCleveland, which promotes events in Cleveland, posted an announcement about an upcoming gingerbread house building event and made what appeared to be joking references to Cleveland's "House of Horrors" case in which Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus were held captive by Ariel Castro for a decade, the New York Post reports. Referencing the area's recent housing crisis and resulting empty houses, the now-deleted post said, "Many end up becoming dens for cracker addicts. In one notorious case, three missing gingerbread women were found held as gingerbread sex slaves for 10 years, while gingerbread police remained baffled … But there is a solution!" The restaurant hosting the event was unaware of the post and immediately requested it be taken down, a rep tells Cleveland.com. CoolCleveland has since apologized in a statement in which the publisher called the post "inexcusable and inappropriate," adding, "It is never OK to make light of such serious issues, and I take full and personal responsibility for this post ever being published." In a Facebook post linking to the statement, the website added a comment announcing the writer responsible for the post no longer works for the company. "We apologize to anyone who may have read this egregious post, to victims and survivors, and to the community of Cleveland," the statement continues, adding that CoolCleveland has made a donation to a nonprofit that helpss survivors and victims. "When we started CoolCleveland over 16 years ago, it was to help and support the cool events, cool people and cool venues in our region, not to cause further harm and pain." Cleveland.com has a screenshot of the original post and some of the angry responses. (Another ill-advised holiday post here.)