What did a University of Texas football player have to say after Barack Obama was elected?
Why was Rashard Mendenhall so upset in 2011?
For some professional athletes, social media and their unvarnished thoughts aren't a great
mix.
First, Larry Johnson ripped his coach on social media, then he used a homophobic slur.
It all started in October 2009 when Johnson and the Kansas City Chiefs got blown out by
As Johnson put it on Twitter,
"My father got more credentials than most of these pro coaches [...] My father played
for the coach from [Remember the Titans].
Our coach played golf [...] Our coach.
Nuthn [sic]."
Johnson's father, Larry Sr., was a defensive line coach for Penn State University at the
time.
And if all that wasn't enough, the younger Johnson used a homophobic slur after another
Twitter user brought up a past legal run-in involving a woman at a nightclub.
Then when reporters asked him about his tweets aimed at Haley, he used the F-word while telling
them to beat it.
Johnson was eventually suspended for his tweets and waived by the Chiefs later that year.
By 2011, he was out of the NFL for good.
If you're a famous former NBA player working as an analyst for ESPN, it's probably not
the best idea to post a video featuring exotic dancers.
But that's exactly what Paul Pierce did in April of 2021, and he was terminated for his
actions.
In an Instagram Live video that instantly went viral, the former Boston Celtics All-Star
can be seen playing poker.
That may not sound too scandalous…at least not until you factor in the dancer rubbing
his neck and all the bikini-clad women in the background.
Plus, Pierce is seen puffing on what looks to be marijuana, while also tossing back a
shot.
Before the infamous video, Pierce had been working as an analyst for ESPN's NBA Countdown
and The Jump since 2017.
News of his firing came just three days after the video surfaced.
Then in September 2021, he told Sports Illustrated that he didn't care about getting let go because
he didn't like working for ESPN and he wasn't sorry for the racy footage.
As he put it,
"What the f--- did I do?
I was just having a good time.
All the people coming after me, half you motherf-----s do the same s---.
You’re just hiding it.
And you all are married while you’re doing it.
I’m divorced.
I’m retired.
I’m having fun."
"He looked like he was having the same Saturday night that millions of men were probably having
all around the world!"
When a famous athlete sticks up for someone on social media who's been mistreated, it
will often lead to praise.
But when the person being defended is considered public enemy number one, things might go a
bit differently.
In 2011, former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall criticized people for celebrating the death
of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As Mendenhall put it,
"What kind of person celebrates death?
It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak.
We've only heard one side…."
Mendenhall also expressed doubt that bin Laden even planned the attacks.
After the inevitable backlash, the former football star wrote on his blog that he wasn't
"questioning Bin Laden's evil acts."
Instead, he was trying to, quote, "generate conversation."
Additionally, he explained,
"I apologize for the timing [on] such a sensitive matter, but it was not meant to do harm."
Mendenhall was let go from his contract with the sportswear company Champion soon after,
as a spokesperson said that his views were "inconsistent" with their values.
Then in 2014, Mendenhall retired, explaining that he'd rather write and travel than play
football.
There were celebrations in many parts of the United States when Barack Obama was elected
as the first Black president of the United States on November 4, 2008.
But Buck Burnette, a former backup center for the University of Texas football team,
instead wished harm on Obama, which he relayed on his Facebook page.
As he put it,
"All the hunters gather up, we have a #$%&er in the whitehouse."
That expletive was interpreted as a self-censored version of the n-word.
Afterwards, Burnette had an epiphany and realized that his message was very wrong and harmful.
He later deactivated his Facebook, but not before writing,
"Clearly, I have made a mistake and apologized for it and will pay for it.
I received it as a text message from an acquaintance and immaturely put it up [...] I'm not racist
and apologize for offending you.
I grew up on a ranch in a small town where that was a real thing and I need to grow up.
I sincerely am sorry for being ignorant in thinking that it would be ok to write that
publicly."
Despite the apology, it wasn't too long before Burnette was kicked off the team by then-Texas
coach Mack Brown.
In 2017, former NFL player Fernando Bryant found himself baffled after he was fired from
a head coaching job at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Georgia.
He was terminated just 20 days after being hired, and it all had to do with a social
media photo that showed him and his wife Amber holding a bottle of liquor.
But according to Fernando, the school saw the photo during his interview process, which
confused him even more.
Furthermore, the image was taken three years before he even interviewed for the position.
In short, the school claimed that the picture didn't align with the school's Christian values,
and it was brought to their attention by a student's parent.
Moreover, Amber was a cast member on Bravo's Mother Funders, which her husband believed
made some parents uncomfortable.
"I wasn't given a chance to defend myself, which makes you wonder what kind of times
we're in."
Then in May 2017, it was reported that Bryant filed a lawsuit against the school because
he suspected that his firing had nothing to do with the photo.
As he told 11Alive,
"I felt like I was fired because of discrimination.
I feel like there's something else."
"Who doesn't have a past?"
As of 2022, there's no word as to what came of Bryant's lawsuit, as both he and Strong
Rock eventually kept quiet on the matter.
Bailey Davis was terminated from her position as a cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints
after posting a photo on Instagram of herself in a one-piece lace bodysuit.
The Saints considered it lingerie and found it distasteful.
Davis was also accused of attending a party with players, though she denied that.
She was with the Saints for three years before her firing.
In 2018, she spoke with The New York Times about the different rules of conduct for cheerleaders
and players.
One rule prohibited the women from fraternizing with the players, either in person or online.
But there were no rules against the men interacting with them, which she considered unfair.
After her termination, Bailey filed a complaint against the Saints with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission and started an initiative called "#LevelThePlayingField."
"I want us to be treated like professional athletes who have worked hard and who do our
job well."
Alas, the Saints denied treating Bailey unfairly and claimed that she broke a rule barring
cheerleaders from showing themselves in lingerie, nude, or semi-nude.
As the team's lawyer put it in a statement,
"The Saints organization strives to treat all employees fairly, including Ms. Davis
[....] For now, it is sufficient to say that Ms. Davis was not subjected to discrimination
because of her gender."
One day Caitlin Davis was waving pom-poms for the New England Patriots, the next she
was apologizing after being ousted from the team.
That's what happened to the cheerleader in 2008 after a Facebook picture made the rounds
on the internet.
The photo featured the then-18-year-old posing with a marker in her hand next to a passed-out
man who had swastikas drawn on him.
There were also drawings of the male anatomy on his face and the words "I'm a Jew" scrawled
on his arm.
Patriots spokesperson Stacey James later told the Boston Herald that Davis was no longer
with the team.
For her part, Davis issued a statement to TMZ in which she said, in part,
"The kid in the picture was a 'drunk guy who passed out and was written on,' as his costume
for the night."
It all happened in a dorm at Boston College.
As Davis also explained,
"The guys ended up drawing more on him due to the fact that he was the first one to pass
out on Halloween night ... At the time I had jumped in the picture with the kid, I didn't
realize what had been drawn on him, which I take responsibility for not being alert."
Davis has since kept a low profile following her apology.
A tweet from Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou got her suspended from the 2012
London Olympics.
The offending missive in question read,
"With so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade
food!!!"
After finding herself knee-deep in backlash, she fought back, as she then tweeted,
"I'm not a stuck CD!
And if I make mistakes, I do not hit replay!
I continue playing!"
A couple of days later, however, Papachristou changed her tone, as she said in a statement
on Twitter and Facebook,
"I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published
on my personal Twitter account.
I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered since I never wanted
to offend anyone or to encroach human rights."
Alas, that apology wasn't enough to stop Greece's Olympic Committee from bringing the hammer
down on Papachristou, which cost her a trip to London.
As Isidoros Kouvelos, the country's Olympic mission chief, told The Independent,
"She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out.
She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes."
As a successful competitive swimmer, Australian Stephanie Rice has surely swum in her fair
share of heated pools.
But when she found herself in hot water for an offensive tweet in 2010, it was a new experience.
She posted the tweet right after Australia's rugby team beat South Africa 30 to 13, as
she typed "Suck on that" and then added a homophobic slur.
After the inevitable backlash, Rice eventually apologized on her blog, as she wrote,
"I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment.
I did not mean to cause offense and I apologize."
Rice also apologized at a press conference, but that didn't stop her from losing her endorsement
deal with luxury car brand Jaguar.
She also reportedly had to return a Jaguar XF that she was given while working with the
brand, which was worth around $100,000 at the time.
Her swimming career wasn't completely ruined by the tweet, but who's to say how much she
lost in endorsement money with this one lapse in judgment?
"It's just not me to give offense to other people, no matter who they are."
The year 2016 will forever be memorable for NBA player D'Angelo Russell.
That's because it was his rookie season — and it was also the year he got caught in a big
old scandal.
It happened when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and was accused of recording
a Snapchat video of his former teammate Nick Young.
In the clip, Young confessed that he'd cheated on rapper Iggy Azalea, who was his fiancée
at the time.
Former Los Angeles Times reporter Mike Bresnahan then tweeted that Russell had asked for Young's
forgiveness, which Young accepted.
But reportedly, a lot of the other Lakers players wanted nothing to do with Russell.
As he admitted at a press conference,
"I feel as sick as possible [...] I can't really show my face anywhere without people
hating me right now."
In 2019, Young addressed the video leak on Kevin Hart's "Cold as Balls" YouTube series.
Hart said that the media made the situation worse, though Young disagreed.
"Naw, it was kind of bad."
"It's bad."
"It was bad."
"There's no way around it."
"It's bad."
"It's [bleep] up."
Since the scandal, both Russell and Young were both traded from the Lakers, while Azalea
broke up with Young in 2016 for allegedly cheating on her.
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