The Las Vegas Raiders have been criticised for their tweet following Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction
On April 20th, Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder over the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. While the rest of the world watched accountability in action, the Las Vegas Raiders failed to read the room.
In a tweet posted in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, the American football team opted to put a spin on the slogan and overall rhetoric used by the Justice for George Floyd campaigners and the Black Lives Matter movement.
It has caused uproar on social media but, quite staggeringly, they have yet to take it down:
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) April 20, 2021
Unsurprisingly, the post has been retweeted over 70,000 times, with almost 30,000 comments from people galled by the tactless tweet. However, as reported by The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, it is believed that the organisation has no intention of taking it down.
Covered quickly in his piece, Raiders owner, Mark Davis was forthright about the tweet, taking responsibility but also explaining why the tweet won’t be deleted. As you can see in summaries down below, Garner was also unaware of the already offensive nature of “I CAN BREATHE”, following the NYPD supporters co-opting and distortion of the phrase used by George Floyd:
Davis said he wasn't aware that NYPD supporters wore "I Can Breathe" shirts following the 2014 killing of Eric Garner. After I brought that up to him he said, "I learned something… I have to do a little bit more research into that just so I can speak coherently on that aspect."
— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) April 21, 2021
Davis: "I wasn't watching the talking heads; I was listening to the family. And I was trying to take my lead from them. But if that's (the "I Can Breath" t-shirts) are what the cops are wearing then, really, it is a bad statement."
— Tashan Reed (@tashanreed) April 21, 2021
