by By Nick Hudson (@Aussie_Duck)
Many athletes have become experts at growing their brand and stardom through the strategic use of social media channels such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and more recently, Snapchat. But as quickly as an athlete can grow their star on social media, they can bring it crashing to the ground infinitely faster.
Professional athletes continue to make career-altering mistakes on social media, seemingly unable to learn from the blunders of their peers and in many cases, even apply basic common sense. These twitter faux pas can often cost the athlete on a number of levels – reputations, wallets and feelings can all come under attack. So let’s look at some recent social media mishaps and see how careers can be affected by a single tweet or post:
Antonio Brown – Facebook Live
Shortly following the Pittsburgh Steelers 2017 playoff victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, star WR Antonio Brown broadcast on Facebook Live from the Steelers locker room. In doing so, not only did he break league rules which prohibit the use of social media by players until “traditional media interviews conclude”, the video also captured a post-game speech by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin describing the New England Patriots with a few choice expletives.
The fallout? The Steelers pre-empted the NFL and fined Brown $10,000 for violating the trust of his teammates and coaching staff. It was revealed that Brown actually has a 6 figure marketing deal with Facebook Live, worsening his image in the eyes of fans and the media. In a press conference, Mike Tomlin publicly described Brown as “selfish” and “inconsiderate” and recently more news has leaked from the Steelers suggesting he may be past his welcome with the team.
Laremy Tunsil – Twitter
NFL teams by nature are generally risk averse. Knowing success and revenue is tied closely to the players on their rosters, many teams go to extreme lengths to avoid investing million dollars in a player with significant character risks (Others don’t…). So try and understand why Laremy Tunsil (@KingTunsil78), widely considered as a lock for top 5 selection in the 2016 NFL Draft, posted a video on his Twitter featuring him smoking out of what is apparently known as a “gas-mask bong”, just minutes before the draft began.
The fallout? It gave many a chuckle and might have increased sales of similar gimmick bongs such as glow in the dark bongs. But unfortunately, it made his “sure-thing top 5 pick” plummet down the draft board, eventually being selected at pick 13 by the Miami Dolphins, costing him almost $10 million in salary in the process. Lunsil later claimed to have been hacked (because of course he was). However, I’m sure he had a great time with his bong, as many, many others do when they shop at places like Grasscity for the very best ‘equipment’ around.
Stephanie Rice – Twitter
Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine what an athlete thought would happen… This was definitely the case in 2010 when Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice (@ItsStephRice) posted a hyper-offensive tweet after an Australian rugby victory over South Africa.
The fallout? Rice received huge backlash from media, teammates and the public and was forced to make a public apology stating “”I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment. I did not mean to cause offense and I apologize.” One day later, Rice was dropped by her major sponsor, Jaguar.
In Summary
The above social media “fails” are just a small selection of hundreds of embarrassing moments for celebrity athletes on Twitter and other social networks. It’s situations like these that have resulted in professional and college sports teams spending huge amounts of money on social media training for their staff and athletes Unfortunately, sometimes no amount of training can protect an athlete from a single moment of stupidity that ends up being global news.
As a fan, I secretly love watching athletes screw up like this on social media. I can understand the immense frustration it can cause a more conservative organization like the NFL, though. And good luck to colleges trying to keep their student-athletes in line on social media – nothing like a 20-year-old with lots of opinions, a huge audience, and little-to-no filter.
I agree with Cyrus above, I love watching these people who I idolize seem human. Take Antonio Brown, for example, he is being paid a ridiculous amount and it is nice to see that he is, in fact, human. However, when it comes to offensive tweets or anything that puts down another group I will immediately withdraw my support for that athlete. It will be interesting to see how recruiting evolves with the use of social media. I really like the layout of this blog post it’s very easy to read and I like the headlines.
Famous athletes’ social media mishaps are a good and interesting blog focal point because, to me, athletes are considered celebrities in some ways yet resonate as “normal people” a little more than the traditional movie or pop star. This makes their social media activity intriguing in a different way than both celebrities and average people. The audience that sees these mishaps is also different.
Social media mishaps can happen to anyone, but I agree that you’d think professional athletes would know to be extra cautious with such things. However, I can think of social media mishaps amongst even some of our own school’s big athletes as well as star athletes from my high school.
Also, I completely agree with everything stated in Cyrus’s comment above.
Do you think the freedom that social media allows is too much responsibility for athletes who have, in some cases, had little to no discipline for off-the-field activities before becoming stars? Recently we also saw Rajon Rondo speak out on Instagram against the Bulls. Should agents or teams have more say based on what athletes are saying on social media?
While only three athlete mishaps on social media were listed here, I feel this list could be endless. It is almost every week that we hear about a new athlete/coach mistake on social media, so it begs me to ask the question, why?!
You’re a famous athlete, you have a high following, you see other athletes around you getting in trouble online, you understand everything you post comes with the highest amount of scrutiny, and yet we still see athletes screw up everyday……
I do agree that the idea of athletes making mistakes online do show their humanity, but must say I still find it mind blowing these kind of mistakes still happen. Sure, social media is fun and engaging for everyone involved, but this article just goes to show that an athletes social media account can create a whole lot more harm than good. Just still crazy to see athletes lose millions of dollars in endorsements and contracts because they cannot keep certain emotions to themselves! (not to mention the athletes extremely damaged reputation). I beg to ask the question for an athlete who struggles on social media…how much benefits does “Twitter” really give you??
Athletes…wake up!!
What more can be said that hasn’t been already… I almost feel bad for the 20-something college kid (let’s just go with football player) that had THIS MUCH responsibility placed on his shoulders! The entire country and parts of the greater world are watching and judging your every move and you just want to enjoy the trials and tribulations of social media like your normal non-athlete friends. I am not excusing Laremy Tunsil’s tweet by any means, but social media coupled with great athletic potential is forcing these kids to grow up at a way faster rate than their peers and I can see how they might mess up once in a while. So with that being said, I agree with Jeff: Do you really need Twitter? REALLY?
I’m not too sure what to say about the “Digitally Inept”, more senior athletes that Nick has mentioned. I’m just going to grab my popcorn and enjoy the ride… or is that just being an enabler?
Great post! Some athletes seem to get carried away by stardom and share things on their social media accounts that later cost them millions of dollars. I think that the larger your platform gets on social media, the easier it is to feel like you cannot fall off. Obviously this is not true, you listed three great examples in your blog post of what happens when stupidity strikes. Even rigorous social media training can’t help everyone. Social media is a powerful tool that can and will ruin lives.
My favorite post! I remember all of these happenning, it’s absolutely insane how a few seconds on social media can cost so much in monetary value and reputation. I’d love a follow up post in regards to crisis management and how they tried to handle these incidences, or at least best practices. I hope to one day get into the talent representation field of the sports industry. I can only imagine this topic will be increasingly relevant as time goes by.