Indiana Pacers star Paul George ticked off a lot of people Thursday, and that included his boss.
George ruffled some feathers when he fired off insensitive tweets regarding the Ray Rice fiasco. The Pacers swingman made light of the incident and defended Rice by implying Rice’s actions weren’t that bad because he was defending himself. George also appeared to take issue with the NFL’s indefinite suspension of the ex-Baltimore Ravens running back.
It didn’t take long for George to be raked over the Twitter coals, though. Fans and media alike ripped the All-Star — who is currently recovering from a broken leg — leading George to delete the tweets. He also issued an apology via Twitter. However, that didn’t stop Pacers president Larry Bird from releasing a statement condemning George’s words.
“Paul George’s tweets from earlier were thoughtless and without regard to the subject of domestic violence and its seriousness in society,” Bird said in a statement. “We have talked to Paul to strongly express our displeasure and made it clear that the NBA and the Pacers’ organization will not condone or tolerate remarks of this nature. Paul understands that he was wrong and why his tweets were so inappropriate and is very apologetic.”
In addition to the apology tweet, George also released a statement through the team.
“I want to apologize to all victims of domestic abuse for my insensitive tweets,” George said in the statement. “They were obviously without proper understanding of the seriousness of the situation and I sincerely regret my poor choice of words.”
