TAMPA, Florida – Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis sent a tweet containing anti-Asian slander on Sunday night and has since apologized, saying he did not realize the term’s deeply painful meaning.
“I have to stop leaving g —- in Miami,” wrote Carlton in the deleted tweet.
Davis, 24, apologized for using slander in subsequent tweets and said he thought the term meant “lame”.
“I would never offend any group of people,” Davis wrote in a tweet accompanied by an image of an undisclosed slang dictionary entry. “You, reporters, can look for another story to explode. The term was directed at a producer claiming that he “ran Miami”. That said, I will remove that word from my vocabulary, explaining the difficult times that our Asian family is facing ❤️.
“I used a term that I always come from means ‘lame’, but I didn’t realize that it has a much more dark and negative connotation. I learned a valuable lesson and I want to apologize to anyone who was offended by seeing that word because we need to focus on help each other during these difficult times. “
According to a recent report by the Center for the Study of Hate Extremism, hate crimes against Americans of Asian origin have increased by almost 150% in major US cities in the past year, with several incidents making headlines in recent weeks.
Davis spoke out against racism in the past and about his experiences as a black man. He became part of the Bucs’ Social Justice Council, meeting with community leaders last summer to discuss ways the police can build better relationships with the black community.