Thread: Mendenhall's tweets draw criticism

Originally Posted by little bear

What an ass.

Yep.. one thing to 'think" those things, but to put on twitter, not just the first one, but then to try and 'justify it" with the "well ..how do we know the planes took down the buldings.." nonsense..

Going to be hard to come back from that- imagine the rooney's and steelers if allowed to talk with him, would be having a serious talk today- fort for mendenhall, they can't talk, and by the time they do, this should have blown over for the most part- but i'd imagine quite a few fans will not forgive or forget..glad we don't see stuff like this from forte.. really think 95% of these athlete's need to get off twitter

Originally Posted by soulman

Not scoring a lot of points with Steelers fans I would imagine. They're probably very much a "lunchbucket" America first group and comments like this won't set well. Before he made his comments he should have done a lot more research. Was he aware that bin Laden and al Qeada took responsibilty for the 9/11 disaster? It's pretty obvious by his comments about the NFL and slavery that he's an ideologist just like Muslim Extremists so his misguided thoughts fit.

yeah he's IMo very lucky no OTA's or minicamp going on to give the story more leg's and media attention, both he and steelers have to hope it dies down quick..

well trying his "spin" today, but of course Runs and never addresses his tweets about "maybe bin laden wasnt responsble" or "who do we know the jets took down the WTC"...

Mendenhall clarifies controversial bin Laden tweets

Former Illinois and Niles West star Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers attempted Wednesday to clarify his controversial tweets about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

In a posting on his personal blog, Mendenhall writes that he doesn't support bin Laden and says his religious beliefs caused him to question why people would celebrate a man's death. Here is the full blog post (which ESPN.com confirmed, via Mendenhall's agent, was written solely by him):

I appreciate those of you who have decided to read this letter and attain a greater understanding of my recent twitter posts. I see how they have gotten misconstrued, and wanted to use this outlet as a way to clear up all things that do not truthfully represent myself, what I stand for personally, and any organization that I am a part of.

First, I want people to understand that I am not in support of Bin Laden, or against the USA. I understand how devastating 9/11 was to this country and to the people whose families were affected. Not just in the US, but families all over the world who had relatives in the World Trade Centers. My heart goes out to the troops who fight for our freedoms everyday, not being certain if they will have the opportunity to return home, and the families who watch their loved ones bravely go off to war. Last year, I was grateful enough to have the opportunity to travel over seas and participate in a football camp put on for the children of US troops stationed in Germany. It was a special experience. These events have had a significant impact in my life.

“What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side...”

This controversial statement was something I said in response to the amount of joy I saw in the event of a murder. I don’t believe that this is an issue of politics or American pride; but one of religion, morality, and human ethics. In the bible, Ezekiel 33:11 states, “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!...”. I wasn’t questioning Bin Laden’s evil acts. I believe that he will have to face God for what he has done. I was reflecting on our own hypocrisy. During 9/11 we watched in horror as parts of the world celebrated death on our soil. Earlier this week, parts of the world watched us in horror celebrating a man’s death.

Nothing I said was meant to stir up controversy. It was my way to generate conversation. In looking at my timeline in its entirety, everything that I’ve said is with the intent of expressing a wide array of ideas and generating open and honest discussions, something I believe we as American citizens should be able to do. Most opinions will not be fully agreed upon and are not meant to be. However, I believe every opinion should be respected or at least given some thought. I apologize for the timing as such a sensitive matter, but it was not meant to do harm. I apologize to anyone I unintentionally harmed with anything that I said, or any hurtful interpretation that was made and put in my name.

It was only meant to encourage anyone reading it to think.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

What a dumb fucker! I mean really, how dumb do you have to be to tweet something like that that is such a sensitive spot on a nation at large?

this is the problem with "social networking".. not sure if I owned a team, would allow it. It potentially can hurt the brand loyalty, create team rifts and team problems- so why bother?... Athlete's have always said these kind of dumb things, but no one cared or heard them, unless it was the superstar of a team, 20 years ago no one would ahve reported on mendenhall and a non-story..well for medenhall, while the team can't do anything now, the fall out has started with Champion dropping him from their advertising contract:

Champion fires Rashard Mendenhall as endorser

Posted by Will Brinson

In case you hadn't heard, Rashard Mendenhall did some tweeting recently about Osama Bin Laden. It did NOT go over well with the general public. And it apparently didn't go over well with athletic wear company Champion, who fired Mendenhall on Thursday.

Mendenhall inked a post on his site attempting to explain his Twitter burst, but clearly that wasn't enough, as the company, who's paid Mendenhall to endorse their products, decided that Mendenhall's tweets were "inconsistent with the values of the Champion brand." So, they fired him.

"In light of these comments, Champion was obliged to conduct a business assessment to determine whether Mr. Mendenhall could continue to effectively communicate on behalf of and represent Champion with consumers," Champion spokesman told told Michael McCarthy of USA Today. "While we respect Mr. Mendenhall's right to express sincere thoughts regarding potentially controversial topics, we no longer believe that Mr. Mendenhall can appropriately represent Champion and we have notified Mr. Mendenhall that we are ending our business relationship