Posted on 08/03/2018 12:46:26 PM PDT by Renkluaf
University of Missouri quarterback Drew Lock apologized Wednesday after a newspaper asked him about offensive tweets he sent in middle school.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reported it received an email from a reader pointing to several tweets on the first-team All-SEC quarterback's Twitter account dating back to 2011, when he would have been 14 years old and still in the eighth grade.
The Daily Tribune only published what it characterized as "two of the more insensitive tweets," out of five total. "Hahahah kids a faggot," read the first.
The paper gave Lock a chance to respond before publication. "I was recently made aware of five tweets from my eighth grade year in middle school that were perceived as insensitive and inappropriate," he told them in a statement. "An anonymous person brought these to the attention of the Columbia Daily Tribune, and I appreciate having the opportunity to address them."
"I didn’t intend to offend anyone with those messages, but I understand that this is an example of how words, even when written by a young teenager, can be interpreted by others as newsworthy, harmful and inappropriate," he added.
Lock's apology comes after Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb and Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner apologized earlier in the week for racist and homophobic tweets dating back to when they were 17 and 18 years old.
In his column publicizing Lock's tweets, Tribune columnist Garrick Hodge nonetheless decried the growing practice of searching athletes' tweets for offensive statements sent when they were teenagers.
"The problem is, this trend of fans going through their favorite (or least favorite) player’s old tweets seems too much like a witch hunt than it does a teachable moment. In a perfect world, what this would accomplish is to serve as a stark reminder to famous athletes that what they do and say with their platform matters," Hodge wrote.
this is crazy!!!! It was middle school.
Seriously?! This is absolutely ridiculous.
But we're still going to publish it in the hopes we sell a few more issues, plus we get to virtue signal.
And middle schoolers? 8th graders? Wow. That is an age when everyone is trying to fit in and find their place in a pack or herd. It’s still a form of mimicking the behavior and attitude of their peers or crowd or even perceived friends.
Kids are really stupid and impressionable at this age. They rapidly learn from lots of mistakes. They learn about social interaction, relationships, leadership.....
This is why the urban culture that some inner city kids grow up in is so damaging, especially when there is no guidance in the home. Instead of learning that certain behavior is unacceptable, hurtful or dangerous, it is encouraged, embraced and emulated. My son recently asked about the “C” word (he’s 11). He knew it was bad (based on context and reaction) and has never used it (allegedly). But wanted to know why it was bad. Inner city kids, in that thug culture, don’t have anyone to ask.
I posted a stupid tweet in 2012. It was pro-Romney.
Middle school! FRIGGIN’ MIDDLE SCHOOL!#!t’s sad that this pc pussy athlete didn’t have the self respect and intelligence to mock this leaker and tell him to go to hell.
I think even Social Media has reached Peak Rage.
We are about to enter the next stage, where very few people get judged about tweets from their childhood.
Sort of like the old Curtis Mayfield song;
“If There’s A Hell Below, We’re ALL Gonna Go!”
I agree. Unless part of a court-sanctioned legal inquiry, pre-18 records should be strictly off limits.
I know many states now have laws against asking for and using social media reviews as part of job application and interviews; probably need the same for colleges as part of admissions.
Just a few weeks ago, there was a teenager who lost a Wrestling Scholarship because somebody dug up something he once said about gays. Stupid and hypocritical. Some slurs are allowed.
“What is amazing is that the tweets of a 12 year old can come back to bite them, but nothing on the history of the 44th _resident can be found.”
GREAT point.
We can’t let the lefties win. They are really trying
It isn’t Pathetic at all.
The guy Apologizes and now he can get a Job on the NYT Editorial Board, right?
The issue is never the issue; the issue is always the revolution. Drew Lock has to apologize and be giving re-education; Sarah Jeong is just fine.
I second that. This crap is very pathetic.
What does this mean? I don't know anyone who's afraid of faggots.
In Latin, it translates to afraid of men, but that's incorrect as well.
“This is going on your permanent record”...
Actually, if not squelched soon this is likely leading us in the direction of Mao-like cultural revolution, complete with forced wearing of dunce caps by teachers, re-education camps, public kowtowing, organized violence by the young against older generations, and more.
He also apologized for crapping his very last diaper.
Drew Lock has the unfortunate handicap of being white in an increasingly minority supremacist culture.
Lynch Him!
/sarc
If the guy used the wrong sequence to tighten lug nuts after getting a flat tire and putting the spare on, he would have been hung out to dry at that school.
I’m not sure, exactly, what he was expecting, given the recent history there - they are not about to let a WHITE GUY be QB, no way.
Do they only do this to white athletes?
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