Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd in a Minneapolis court on Tuesday. The incident was one of the most high profile cases of police officer violence against an unarmed black person last summer and is largely seen as the starting point of leagues across the sports landscape giving publicity to social justice causes.
After the verdict was announced, the Las Vegas Raiders tweeted an image that drew a lot of heat on social media. The phrase “I can’t breathe” was one of the last things Floyd said as Chauvin knelt on his neck for an extended period of time, eventually killing him. The Raiders repurposed the phrase to make it one of victory in the wake of Chauvin’s conviction.
Members of the sports media were genuinely shocked by the post, which at best is misguided and at worst is beyond cynical.
Mike Golic Jr. took a bit of a different approach. While many were jokingly tweeting about a future opening in the Raiders social media department, he showed some compassion, noting that even if the social media director sent out the tweet, the direction and/or sentiment was handed down from someone higher up.
It seems Golic was right in his assumption. Raiders owner Mark Davis later went on the record with the Las Vegas Review Journal on Tuesday night to take responsibility for the post.
“That’s my tweet. That was me. I don’t want anyone in the organization taking heat,” Davis said, explaining that he got the idea from a quote George Floyd’s brother gave about his feelings in hearing the guilty verdict.
“I was driving home from a meeting (Tuesday) when the verdict came in,” Davis continued. “Soon after, I was listening to George Floyd’s brother, Philonise, speak. And he said, ‘Today, we are able to breathe again.’ I took my lead from him. In my mind, that was all I needed to say — ‘I can breathe.’
Roy Bellamy of the Dan Le Batard Show took a shot at the Raiders, but also took time to highlight a team he thought did an exceptional job in acknowledging the impact of the verdict.
Judging from the two examples above, the Raiders may want to reach out to the Penguins for advice on how to manage sensitive and painful issues on social media in the future.