Twitter is not always the best place for a 140-character thought. Especially if it's an inappropriate one.
Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock sent an inappropriate tweet about New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin sparking the Asian American Journalists Association to ask for an apology.
The tweet came shortly after Jeremy Lin's 38-point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers Friday.
"Some lucky lady in NYC is going to feel a couple of inches of pain tonight," Jason Whitlock tweeted.
After an avalanche of deserved criticism over the tweet, Jason Whitlock posted this to Fox Sports Sunday.
I get Linsanity. I've cried watching Tiger Woods win a major golf championship. Jeremy Lin, for now, is the Tiger Woods of the NBA. I suspect Lin makes Asian Americans feel the way I feel when I watch Tiger play golf.
I should've realized that Friday night when I watched Lin torch the Lakers. For Asian Americans and a lot of sports fans, his nationally televised 38-point outburst was the equivalent of Tiger's first victory in The Masters. I got caught up in the excitement. I tweeted about what a great story Lin is and how he could rival Tim Tebow.
I then gave in to another part of my personality — my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. It's been with me since birth, a gift from my mother and honed as a child listening to my godmother's Richard Pryor albums. I still want to be a standup comedian.
The couple-inches-of-pain tweet overshadowed my sincere celebration of Lin’s performance and the irony that the stereotype applies to pot-bellied, overweight male sports writers, too. As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry.
Interesting enough, CNN analyst Roland Martin was recently suspended for inappriate tweets he sent during the Super Bowl which were perceived as homophobic. There's no word yet if Jason Whitlock will be suspended. In light of the fact that he quickly apologized, he'll probably avoid a suspension. But does he deserve one?
Should Jason Whitlock be suspended over this tweet?
