Lawmaker catching heat for NBA tweet

[Sportsguy9695]

A Minnesota lawmaker apologized Monday for his tweet about NBA players that some saw as racist, saying he was rightly held accountable for inaccurate stereotyping.

Rep. Pat Garofalo, a fifth-term Republican from the St. Paul suburb of Farmington, tweeted Sunday night: "Let's be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime."

Garofalo initially stuck by his words even after they drew hundreds of negative comments and more than 1,000 retweets, insisting they were misinterpreted. About three-fourths of the NBA's players are black, according to a 2013 report card from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

But in his statement Monday, Garofalo said he'd reconsidered.

"I sincerely apologize to those who I unfairly categorized," said Garofalo, who's seeking a sixth term in the fall. "The NBA has many examples of players and owners who are role models for our communities and for our country. Those individuals did not deserve that criticism and I apologize."

Source: ESPN

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I'm sure the players in the NBA could single-handedly raise the crime rate Let's just forget about the fact that a lot of them went to college?

At least a small percentage of those athletes would probably just go to another sport too, he's right to back off those stupid comments.

 

[Flauge]

the NBA has had one arrest this season. Raymond Felton. That's it. He picked the wrong sport if he was trying to make a crime statement. I wonder why he choose the NBA of all sports ... Seriously, I think it's obvious what he was trying to say. Dude is a jackass.