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Heisman Winner Immediately Apologizes After Homophobic Tweets Surface
This is how you handle a social media faux pas.
There continues to be plenty of debate when it comes to whether or not ignorant tweets from the past should negatively impact people’s careers in the present, but they always seem to get dug up all the same.
But Oklahoma University quarterback Kyler Murray has set an example by apologizing immediately and seemingly sincerely for old tweets featuring homophobic language.
“I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15,” he tweeted from his personal account early Sunday morning. “I used a poor choice of word that doesn’t reflect who I am or what I believe."
\u201cI apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15. I used a poor choice of word that doesn\u2019t reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intend to single out any individual or group.\u201d— Kyler Murray (@Kyler Murray) 1544343083
Murray’s tweets were unearthed after he was awarded the prestigious Heisman Trophy on Saturday. The ones in question were from 2011 and 2012, back when Murray was 14 and 15 years old, and saw Murray referring to various friends “queers.”
Almost all those tweets have since been deleted.
This all comes directly on the heels of Kevin Hart opting to step down from hosting the Oscars after old homophobic tweets of his were recirculated last week. The comedian eventually apologized, but not before going on an Instagram tirade against people “looking for reasons to be negative” and refusing to apologize because he’d “addressed this several times.”
As for Murray, hopefully his sense to apologize quickly will spare him any further blowback from his ill-advised tweets as a teen as he continues into his professional sports career. ESPN reports that he was actually drafted to play major league baseball, not football, and will be headed to train with the Oakland A’s in the spring.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
