Las Vegas Raiders Criticized for Tone-Deaf ‘I Can Breathe’ Tweet After Chauvin Verdict
The Las Vegas Raiders are receiving massive online pushback for a tone-deaf tweet in the wake of the Derek Chauvin guilty verdict.
The tweet referenced George Floyd’s dying words, “I can’t breathe,” changing them to “I can breathe” with the date of the verdict below.
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) April 20, 2021
People were not pleased with the tweet and let the Raiders know.
I’ve seen a lot of bad tweets on this app but this might be first-ballot Hall of Fame worthy https://t.co/ejyfrxZynf
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) April 20, 2021
OH MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOO https://t.co/7mHUTIazlq
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) April 20, 2021
Delete this. https://t.co/f7KDk5BdJG
— Meatloaf Crunch (@yosoymichael) April 21, 2021
The Oakland Raiders would have never. https://t.co/nVoSvOfWnX
— Joanna Robinson ??✌️?️? (@jowrotethis) April 21, 2021
Days like this demonstrate the scarcity of smart & measured communicators working in politics, sports, Hollywood, corporate America, etc. https://t.co/QcIklJxopl
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) April 21, 2021
I know there are plenty of talented Black communications professionals who would love to have a job in sports that would have prevented this embarrassment of a statement from ever hitting the timeline. https://t.co/t20x4b4m1H
— Mari Manoogian (@MariManoogian) April 21, 2021
That this tweet was tweeted is hard to believe.
That it has remained up for more than an hour is harder to believe. https://t.co/gjKgd2svx7
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 21, 2021
What makes corporate wokeness so uniquely annoying is they’re trying to obfuscate that they *only* care about upholding the status quo. Everything bad is happening for the first time, we’re back to normal, normal is fine, and nothing is ever structural. https://t.co/vzXC9dKhQp
— Kaleb Horton (@kalebhorton) April 21, 2021
Delete this… https://t.co/8EfIKErRJW
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) April 21, 2021
Some grown person (with a team) thought this was a good ideas. https://t.co/eXZOLSGDdR
— WearingMyHelmetOfSalvation (@KirkWrites79) April 21, 2021
More than an hour later this tweet was posted it is somehow still up and pinned to #Raiders Twitter page … https://t.co/SXYuE46lJI
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) April 21, 2021
oh no raiders, what are you doing
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) April 20, 2021
Oh no https://t.co/fpPXJLUAcY
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) April 20, 2021
WTF?! https://t.co/PpqjDi02XD
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) April 20, 2021
The Raiders owner, Mark Davis, responded to the controversial Tweet and said it would not be deleted.
#Raiders owner Mark Davis said the “I Can Breathe” wording came from George Floyd’s brother Philonise, who said “Today, we are able to breathe again.”
Davis added: “If I offended the family, then I’m deeply, deeply disappointed.”
He also said the post won’t be deleted.
— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) April 21, 2021
