Deffending

Frreedom o
of Tweets??

Danee Pyee & Scott R. Stroud
University of Texas att Austin

With thee widespreaad use of soccial network king sites likke Facebook k and Twittter, the line
between n private speeech and pu ublic speechh has becom me increasin ngly blurred d. Although m most
people aare free to sppeak their mminds online, public figgures face un nique challeenges. Even n if
the Firstt Amendmen nt protects most Faceb book posts aand tweets, some feel th hat as public
figures aathletes havve a responssibility to think before tthey speak— —online. Fo or example,
Rashard Mendenhall, a runningg back for th he Pittsburggh Steelers, came under attack for
tweeting g his though hts about Ammericans celebrating th he assassinaation of Osama Bin Lad den.

After somme Americaans greeted news of thee killing of B Bin Laden w with cheers, Mendenhalll
tweeted: “What kind d of person celebrates death?” and d “It’s amaziing how peo ople can HAATE a
man they y have neveer even hearrd speak. W We’ve only heeard one sid de.” Public rresponse waas
immediaate. Menden nhall’s tweetts resulted iin a spike frrom 13,621 to 36,914 in his Twitteer
“followers” and a baacklash from m people wh ho found hiss statementt inappropriiate or
offensivee. Many callled for a “fulll and compplete apologgy,” and the athletic com mpany
Champio on dropped him as an eendorser, stating that h he would not be able to “appropriaately
represen nt Champion n.” Champioon further eexplained M endenhall’ss statementss reflected
values innconsistent with those of the brand d, and “Cham mpion is a sstrong suppporter of thee
governmment’s effortts to fight teerrorism and d is very ap
ppreciative o of the dediccation and
commitm ment of the U.S. Armed Forces.” Beecause of hiss relationsh hip to the Steelers, the
team’s president, Arrt Rooney, aalso issued aa response, stating, “I h have not spo oken with
Rashard so it is hard d to explain
n or even com mprehend w what he meeant with hiss recent Tw witter
commen nts. The entiire Steelers’’ organizatioon is very proud of the job our millitary personnel
have don ne and we ccan only hop pe this leadss to our trooops coming home soon n.”

To his crritics the ath
hlete explainned, “This ccontroversiaal statement was something I said in
responsee to the amo ount of joy II saw in the event of a m murder. I doon’t believe that this is an
issue of ppolitics or A
American prride; but one of religion n, morality, and human n ethics.”
Nevertheeless, he did d issue an appology in a later tweet,, stating “I aapologize foor the timingg as
such a seensitive mattter, but it w
was not meaant to do haarm.” He also o wrote, “I aapologize to
o
anyone II unintentio onally harmeed with any ything that II said, or anyy hurtful intterpretation n
that wass made and p put to my n
name.” Altho ough Mendeenhall arguees that he w was just tryin ng to
provoke conversatio on and “enccourage any yone readingg it to think k,” ESPN.com m reporter
James WWalker descrribes him ass “the latest example of f a player neeeding to usse restraint
before posting his th houghts on Twitter.”

www.spo
ortsandmediia.org
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Furtherr Informatio on:

Gerry Dulac,
G “Champion n drops Steeelers Mendeenhall as Endorser.” Pitttsburgh Posst‐
Gazette, May
G y 7, 2011. Av vailable at:
http://www w.post‐gazettte.com/pg/11127/114 44883‐66.sttm

Jaames Walkeer, “Players need to be m more carefu ul on Twitteer.” Availablle at:
http://espn.go.com/blo og/afcnorth//post/_/id//27327/players‐need‐tto‐be‐more‐‐
caareful‐on‐twwitter

Mike Florio,
M “Mendenhaall deletes hiis ‘truther’ ttweet.” Available at:
http://profo ootballtalk.nnbcsports.co om/2011/05/03/mend denhall‐deleetes‐his‐
trruther‐tweeet/


Discussiion Questio ons:

1. What exactly
W y, if anythingg, did Menddenhall do wwrong?

2. What values
W are in confllict here? W
Why might w we want to d defend Mend denhall’s rigght
too tweet?

3. Do sports fig
D gures have sspecial obliggations to th he public cooncerning ho ow they speeak
or talk aboutt certain issues? Why? W Would you apply thesee same stand dards to a
prominent politician?

4. Iff Mendenhaall was an un nemployed or unsigned d football pllayer, would
d your view
w of
his obligationns while speeaking chan nge? How? W What if he w was unendorsed (by
coompanies su uch as Cham mpion) and not affiliateed with any team at thee time of thee
twweets?

5. Should sportts journalistts cover Men ndenhall’s ttweets and tthe subsequ uent
coontroversy?? Why or wh hy not?

www.spo
ortsandmediia.org
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