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 didnt 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) players 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.
MIDDLE SCHOOL?
Oh, come ON!!
I may have used the “n”-word when I was 12 - I am so sorry for that....
Thank God I didnt have twitter or YouTube as a teen.
Hey, kindergarten crayon pics are next.................
I mean accountability is fine, but if someone was under the age of 18, and especially under the age of 15 you can’t hold him accountable for the rest of his life. Middle schoolers are dumb. That’s why we don’t let them vote.
Twitter is your permanent record.
Meanwhile...at the New York Times editorial staff......
This should be illegal and grounds for legal action.
I hardly ever use it to post.
Read mostly.
LOL I first thought this was satire!
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.
He should tell the media that his dream as a middle schooler was to join the New York Times.
Media scum
I’ve made one post there 4 or 5 years ago to support a friend’s business.
Now, I visit a few times a week for the only national news I can trust — President Trump’s.
(faggots SHOULD be ridiculed)
Exactly!
All this fuss about this guy, and the New York Times is hiring someone with years and years of despicable racist tweets.
And in reaction to that by these Leftist judge and jury types, crickets!
Oh oh...the thought police are going to be going back to birth to find ANYTHING that might be wrongspeak.
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