Minnesota Republican State Representative Pat Garofalo is under fire after tweeting racist remarks that if the NBA folded, street crime would go up.
Let’s be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 9, 2014
No one knows what prompted Garofalo’s Twitter musing, as it appears to have come out of nowhere. We know that the retweets and reactions began as soon as the tweet slid down Garofalo’s timeline on March 9 at 7:33 p.m.
Pat Garofalo’s tweet makes him seem like he lowkey hates the NBA because: Lots of great white players in MLB & NFL, not enough in the NBA.
— OLIVER SKYWOLF (@OliverSkywolf) March 10, 2014
One user pointed out that politicians are full of crime:
@PatGarofalo there are more criminals in your “profession” sir… “White Collar” or “streetcrime”. Clean up politics before speaking out
— Gallagher (@TheSeanyC) March 10, 2014
Springesteen on horse called him a small town racist:
Always fun when small town racists like @PatGarofalo get busted for being racist and try to wiggle free.
— Springsteen on horse (@AA_Hansen) March 10, 2014
But the State Representative said those who think he was taking jabs at Blacks, who largely make up the NBA, got the wrong message.
“I was talking about the NBA’s high arrest rate and that their punishment for positive drugs tests are weaker than other leagues. No intent beyond that. The culture among many pro athletes that they are above the law is the problem, not people like me pointing that problem out,” Garofalo said via e-mail to Kevin Draper of the Diss.
Garofalo also issued a half-ass apology:
To those NBA players and others who are unfairly categorized by my comments, please accept my apologies. http://t.co/xiGaEc47Qo
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 10, 2014
Must we remind Pat Garofalo that even words typed for the Internet are written in pen? And if his comments require more than 140 characters in order to avoid offending others or to be clear, then Twitter isn’t the place to voice that opinion?