Sam Wheeler, a sophomore wrestler at Kent State has been suspended indefinitely after sending a series of homophobic tweets toward Michael Sam who announced that he was gay on Sunday night. Wheeler deactivated his Twitter but as we all should know by now, once you hit send there’s no taking it back. Even if you delete it.
Via Larry Brown Sports:
“On behalf of Kent State University, we consider these comments to be ignorant and not indicative of the beliefs held by our university community as a whole,” Kent State athletic director Joel Nielsen said in a statement on Monday. “This is an educational opportunity for all of our student-athletes.”
This is not a matter of freedom of speech. As a student athlete you are a representation of your university and your university’s community. You are held to a higher standard than regular students and Wheeler’s actions were just not acceptable. It’s okay to not support homosexuality and it’s okay to believe it is wrong. Former Mizzou quarterback James Franklin came out and said that he is not a supporter of homosexuality, however, he expressed his opinion in a respectable, non offensive way. It is not okay to get on Twitter and use offensive and derogatory words towards the gay and lesbian community. I commend Kent State for suspending Wheeler and I hope he learns from his actions.