Why Gay Bashing on Twitter is a Bad Idea

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-29 10:58:00 UTC
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TwitterWhen Kansas City Chiefs football player Larry Johnson took to the Twitter waves this week, he probably wasn't expecting it would cost him $213,000. But that's the amount Johnson will miss out on because of a one-game suspension after going ballistic on a Twitter heckler, calling the user a "fag." It's a Social Media 101 lesson for Johnson, and a reminder that if you're a celebrity or a sports star, having a Twitter account doesn't give you license to hate on folks.

In a rather weird rapid fire of Twitter updates, Larry Johnson responded to @jaredlaunius after Jared made a snarky remark about Johnson falling down on the football field whenever defensive linemen get near him. Johnson's response? It's straight outta the seventh grade:

"@jaredlaunius think about a clever diss then that wit ur fag pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u."

Actually, forget seventh grade. Take that one all the way down to elementary school playground chomping.

The real kicker, to use a football pun, is that @jaredlaunius isn't even gay. Not that it matters -- the point of Johnson's comment was to use one of the meanest, nastiest terms out there as a way of beating somebody down.

But hundreds of thousands of dollars later, and a reputation that he's now a big homophobe, I'm not so sure Larry Johnson thinks his statement is funny anymore. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs have one of the worst records in the NFL. Maybe Johnson should worry about improving his team's strength, instead of using anti-LGBT talk to berate others.

(Photo courtesy of Mykl Roventine's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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