Time Magazine outraged readers for including "feminist" on an online poll of words that should be banned for 2015. On Saturday, the magazine apologized.
"TIME apologizes for the execution of this poll; the word 'feminist' should not have been included in a list of words to ban," Time managing editor Nancy Gibbs wrote on the magazine's website.
The uproar started after the equal rights moniker was included in the fourth-annual poll alongside annoying phrases from 2014 like "yaaasssss," "said no one ever," and "bae."
In the article, a brief explanation was given to why "feminist" was included.
"You have nothing against feminism itself," the explanation read. "But when did it become a thing that every celebrity had to state their position on whether this word applies to them, like some politician declaring a party?"
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The poll was open to the internet and soon after it went up the web responded by voting "feminist" to the top of the list of words to ban.
Many critics took to Twitter calling Time "clueless" along with mentioning other words that were more suitable for banishment.
However, according to Time it was the use of the word rather than the word's meaning that put it on the list.
"While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word was used this year, that nuance was lost," Gibbs' apology added. "We regret that its inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and justice."
Time ran an op-ed regarding the issue by feminist activist Robin Morgan on Monday.
By the publication of this story, "feminist" was still on Time's list.
A spokesman said the word was kept there for context but that voting functionality had been disabled.
