Minnesota State Rep. Pat Garofalo might want to think twice before the next time he tweets about sports: The Republican’s Sunday night tweets about the NBA immediately earned a backlash.
Garofalo wrote:
Let’s be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 9, 2014
Many replied to the tweet, saying that it was blatantly racist.
I don’t know if you’re as equally racist as you are in lacking self-awareness. either way, it’s astonishing to watch @PatGarofalo
— DarkSkintDostoyevsky (@daniecal) March 9, 2014
@PatGarofalo the racial and racist undertones in this comment is beyond alarming.
— Ryan Vernosh (@RyanVernosh) March 9, 2014
@PatGarofalo Racist & Republican might as well be synonyms. Thanks for confirming what we already know.
— Shugah (@Shugah) March 9, 2014
@PatGarofalo there’s more criminals in your profession than the nba buddy.
— B-ball Jenky (@BBallJenky) March 9, 2014
Garofalo responded to the racism allegations to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, saying that he was, “talking about NBA’s high arrest rate and that they are the only major pro league that testing positive for marijuana is not a substance abuse violation.”
Garofalo has a history of anti-NBA tweets.