— A hamburger chain and a marketing company are apologizing over a tweet that featured an image of a journalist who was killed by the Islamic State group.

James Foley, of New Hampshire, was beheaded in 2014 after being held hostage.

WMUR-TV reports the now-deleted tweet promoting Washington, D.C.-based Z-Burger said, "When you say you want a burger and someone says okay lets hit McDonalds." A photo of Foley moments before his death was shown under the tweet with the words, "you disgrace me."

Z-Burger owner Peter Tabibian cut ties with the contracted marketing company, Raleigh-based Valor Media.

Valor owner Michael Valor said the employee who created the tweet, who was recently hired as the company expands, hadn't heard of Foley and thought the image was from a movie.

"From what I’m told, a caffeine-fueled late night turned into a faulty copy/paste of a Googled meme that our art director had no prior knowledge of being an image from a real event, let alone one that is extremely socially relevant and emotionally difficult for many," the 23-year-old Valor said in a statement. "Ignorance and carelessness was the culprit here."

The company has implemented procedures to ensure nothing similar happens in the future, he said.

"No amount of words can effectively express my disappointment in myself for letting this happen," he said. "All that I can do in this moment is make a promise to my clients, my country and the Foley family that nothing like this will ever happen again, that I’m deeply sorry that this came out of a company with my name on it, and that, if there is anything at all to make this situation any brighter, please do not hesitate to personally reach out to me."

Foley's mother released a statement saying she looked forward to an apology.