The Las Vegas Raiders got waves and waves of criticism on Tuesday evening for their tweet in response to the Derek Chauvin verdict. Instead of responding to Chauvin being found guilty on all charges related to the murder of George Floyd with a statement about the long march towards justice and the need for law enforcement to no longer uphold institutions of systemic racism, the Raiders tweeted out “I CAN BREATHE.”
The tweet got pinned to the top of their Twitter account, and eventually, owner Mark Davis explained what happened: this was a directive that came from him; the wording (he claimed) came from Floyd’s brother; he did not know that NYPD officers wore this after the killing of another Black man, Eric Garner; and that while he apologized for any hurt it might have caused, Davis will not have the Raiders delete the tweet.
The reaction was swift, both in terms of excoriating the Raiders and, once it was evident Davis was behind this, severely critiquing him. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, LeBron James joined in, expressing a pretty common sentiment that this is unbelievable.
This is real???? Nah man this ain’t it at all. The F^%K!!!! 🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/f44D7OQWfo
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
As of this writing, the tweet is no longer pinned atop their Twitter account, but as Davis had previously said, it has not been deleted.
