Longtime sportswriter Peter Vecsey is facing a backlash after tweeting out a rap lyric using a censored N-word to comment on a scuffle between NBA players LeBron James and Enes Kanter.
During a tightly-fought game between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night, Cavaliers superstar James collided with Kanter's Knicks teammate, 19-year-old rookie Frank Ntilikina, prompting Kanter to get in James' face in defense of Ntilikina. The move ended up garnering technical fouls for both James and Kanter.
In response, Vecsey, who has previously been a sportswriter for the New York Post and an analyst for NBC, tweeted out a slightly-tweaked rap lyric from the Notorious B.I.G. track "N****s Bleed" off of his sophomore album Life After Death.
"Like Kanter is gonna 2B intimidated by LeBron, guy who stood up 2 Tayyip Erdogan. Imagine him being scared of a n***** who breathes the same air as him," the tweet read.
While a few on Twitter were impressed with Vecsey's reference:
...others cried foul, despite Vecsey's convictions:
Especially considering the length of the censored N-word:
Vecsey was not willing to back down, even as the backlash grew:
As of Tuesday afternoon, Vecsey had not taken down the offending tweet, nor had he issued an apology or any kind of statement.
Some Twitter users wanted to do it for him though:
In fact, Vecsey spent Tuesday morning retweeting the supporters who came to his defense.
Ryan Glasspiegel, a writer The Big Lead, criticized Vecsey for using the word in a post Monday night, although he did add that Vecsey is a known Biggie fan and a champion of black players. But Glasspiegel noted that despite this, white people should not use the N-word.
Vecsey called "bull s**t, however:
While it's unclear if his sportswriting career will suffer any adverse effects due to the controversy, perhaps Vecsey could still use it as a chance to educate himself:
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H/T: Huffington Post, Billboard, The Big Lead
