You know what’s worse than sending hateful, racist messages to someone? Doing so from a burner account so that they can try to avoid the repercussions. No man, woman, or child should ever be subjected to messages like the ones Vikings RB Alexander Mattison was subjected to.
Mattison and the Vikings are coming off a tough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles—a game that filled with more turnovers on the offensive side of the ball. Following the game, Mattison posted screenshots of the messages he was getting from burner accounts on his IG story.
Kleinman did have something to say about it:
“This is truly disgusting and shameful. After the #Eagles game, #Vikings RB Alexander Mattison was called the N-word, was told he should commit suicide and was told a number of other racist terms in his DMs by “fans,” he shared on Instagram. This is what some athletes face every week and hurtful and gross and wrong. Players are humans first, play football second, and these “fans” treat them them like anything but. Be respectful and show compassion in life. These type of messages are completely wrong.”
The NFLPA stepped up by releasing a statement of their own:
“We’re not going to share the images of the disgusting behavior and messages that @AlexMattison22 was subject to last night, but we will call out and stand against this type of hate. Any players who’d like info on filtering their inboxes, please head to our IG or send us a DM.”
Football players are more than just your source of entertainment. These are real people, that lead real lives and have real families. Friends. Loved ones. Children. Hopefully the person operating those burner accounts are found soon. Hiding behind a burner account isn’t just the acts of a spineless coward, but it doesn’t fully protect them from being found out either.
We’re not going to share the images of the disgusting behavior and messages that @AlexMattison22 was subject to last night, but we will call out and stand against this type of hate.
Any players who’d like info on filtering their inboxes, please head to our IG or send us a DM.
— NFLPA (@NFLPA) September 15, 2023
We are going to share the images because you need to see it.
Flip the pages to check them out.