Carlton Davis went from Super Bowl champion to another sports figure accused of racism on Sunday.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback posted a tweet containing an anti-Asian slander, seen in full in the tweet below.
Davis apologized in later tweets, claiming that he used the word as a criticism of South Florida for “lame”, referring to a 2017 entry in an unofficial online slang dictionary.
“I didn’t know it had a much more dark and negative connotation,” he wrote. “I learned a valuable lesson and I want to apologize to anyone who took offense at seeing that word, because we need to focus on helping each other in these difficult times.”
“Words have weight and it is up to all of us to have a complete understanding of the words we choose and the effect they can have on others,” said Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht in a statement, noting that the team has been ” in communication ”with Davis since his tweet. “We look forward to working with Carlton to find appropriate ways to learn from this experience and to continue our joint efforts to end all forms of social and racial injustice.”
Davis’ comment was the most recent among sports figures to raise eyebrows for controversial comments. In an encouraging conversation, Creighton University basketball coach Greg McDermott recently asked his team, many of whom were black, to “stay on the field.” Miami Heat’s Meyers Leonard was caught saying a prejudiced word to a Jew while he was playing a video game in a live broadcast. He said he didn’t know what that meant. Miami negotiated Leonard with Oklahoma City Thunder, which dismissed him after the NBA negotiation deadline.
Davis helped defend the Bucs to take down Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in Tampa’s Super Bowl victory two months ago.
He posted his comment at a time when anti-Asian hatred increased during the pandemic.
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