Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo took to Twitter’s off-the-cuff, say-what-you-feel format last night to engage in some casual racism, quipping that without pro basketball, black people would be out committing crimes in droves.
That isn’t precisely what Garofalo said, but his tweet about NBA players and what they’re really like was also relatively unambiguous — he posted:
Let’s be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 9, 2014
Immediately, Garofalo denied his intent was in any way racist, pointing to allegedly high crime rates among NBA players as he responded to query from Deadspin on the matter:
“Hi Tim. Thanks for the email and for giving me a chance to respond. I was talking about the NBA’s high arrest rate and that their punishment for positive drugs tests are weaker than other leagues. No intent beyond that. The culture among many pro athletes that they are above the law is the problem, not people like me pointing that problem out.”
To give Garofalo his (tiny) due, the Minnesotan politician responded to objection — and one Twitter user called him out on his own field’s issues with abiding laws:
@BBallJenky True. Can’t really dispute that!
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 9, 2014
Pat Garofalo has not apologized for nor has he withdrawn the racist NBA tweet.
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