If the Lakers were looking to offend a few people and confuse just about everyone else, they succeeded.
Twitter was loaded with 9/11-themed messages on Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The tweets ranged from touching and personal to curious and questionable, with the Lakers pushing hard to lead the latter group.
A photo of young Kobe Bryant, overlaid with the words “#NEVERFORGET” was tweeted on the Lakers’ official Twitter account on Wednesday afternoon. It can be seen below.
[tweet https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/377850003521155072/photo/1 align=’center’]
The reaction from the Twitterverse was a swift and decisive, “Um, what?”
The exact purpose of the tweet and its relevance to 9/11 were unclear, because the Lakers soon deleted the tweet. No reference of the tweet was visible on the Lakers’ timeline an hour later, nor was there an apology or the usual explanation that the account had been “hacked.”
There is a patch on Bryant’s jersey in the photo that was worn in the aftermath of the attacks, so maybe the tweet was meant to focus on the patch. Or maybe the Lakers want fans to #NEVERFORGET that Bryant used to have a ‘fro. It’s anyone’s guess, honestly, because it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
