NFL Stars Feel Heat After Zimmerman Tweets

New York Giants star receiver Victor Cruz tweeted an ominous prediction for George Zimmerman shortly after Zimmerman was acquitted of murder, and then quickly deleted the tweet. And later apologized for it.

The NFL star tweeted to his more than 334,000 follwers, "Zimmerman doesn't last a year til the hood catches up to him." The tweet has since been deleted.

In a series of follow up tweets, the Giant said that his angry tweet was "my initial interpretation of the reaction I was reading on twitter.I immediately realized my tweet was a mistake and I apologize."

Cruz was not the only football player to spark protest with a tweet about the Zimmerman trial verdict. Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White was also barraged after this tweet: "All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid"

Rather than deleting the tweet after a round of protests from the twittersphere, White defended his words in another tweet an hour later: "It's crazy how people on twitter want me to get in trouble for a tweet that they are retweeting because they want something to happen thanks"

This morning, though, White tweeted an apology: "I understand my tweet last nite was extreme. I never meant for the people to do that. I was shocked and upset about the verdict. I am sorry."

Twitter saw a flood of passionate comments about the verdict. In the minutes following the announcement, tweets about the case shot to more than 47,800 TPM (tweets per minute) according to the ABC News Social Desk.

The total number of tweets about the verdict -- more than 4.5 million -- has surpassed the number of tweets about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December 2012.

Most faded quickly into the ether, while others, like those from Cruz and White, sparked a bit of controversy for the players; protests like these:

??? Wow I hope Victor Cruz and Roddy White get fined for their comments. Disgusting that celebrities would say such terrible things.

??? -- J.K. Stewart (@NDAlum32) July 14, 2013

Source: http://everythinglubbock.com/fulltext?nxd_id=202772

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