Ashley Benson Didn't Mean to Wear a Cecil the Lion Costume, Sorry

Ashley Benson has been forced to apologize for dressing up as the late Cecil the Lion, whose death at the hands of an American dentist caused nationwide grief earlier this year.

Benson needed help choosing a Halloween costume, so naturally she crowd-sourced this decision on Instagram, posting a photo of herself in a lion outfit, with a reference to Cecil. The post was flooded with comments and hashtags like “#clueless” and “#insensitive” from people who care too much.

The caption has since been updated and now reads: “Help! Can’t decide on my Halloween costume this year! What do you guys think of this lion costume? @yandy #thanksyandy #halloweencostume.” (It previously said “this cecil the lion costume”).

Benson posted an apology on Instagram Wednesday, claiming the outfit wasn’t really supposed to be Cecil.

“Yesterday’s post was in poor taste and I absolutely regret all of the hurt that photo caused,” she writes. “The caption that was posted was incorrect and my costume was not Cecil the Lion, when I saw that, I contacted my management who handled the post and had it immediately changed.”

OK. Benson also said she should be more wary of what’s posted on her social media accounts and called it an “unfortunate oversight.