You can add track star Lolo Jones to the list of brands and celebrities forced to remove their virtual foot from their virtual mouth.
It started when
Eric LeGrand, a former Rutgers football player whose spinal cord was severed in a 2010 game, playfully challenged Jones to a race on Twitter. Jones responded: “Get Checked for a concussion. Clearly, u’ve been hit in the head… Cos u arnt beating a track athlete.”
(Both of their tweets have since been deleted.)
A follower informed Jones that LeGrand is a quadriplegic. Jones spent the next chunk of her life responding to criticism, including the
following tweets:
“Great I’m gonna get murdered for that tweet. When I had no clue who that dude was.Just responding to any athlete who challenges me to a race.”
“Pretty upset about it. Since I had no clue who he was. He challenged me to a race. So I assumed he could actually race.”
LeGrand took it in stride, tweeting, “Definitely did not take it personal, I understand exactly where you are coming from. All good over here.”
He added, “Did not mean to start anything at all, sorry for all this crazy stuff being said. Much respect for you,” LeGrand wrote to Jones. “Yes this is wild did not know this was going to happen. You have a supporter in me for sure.”
Jones was the
target of criticism from the media and her fellow runners on Team U.S.A. for not deserving the attention she got during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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via)