Minnesota state Rep. Pat Garofalo has predictably come under fire for a controversial comment he made, seemingly unprovoked, on Twitter on Sunday evening. He tried to douse some of the flames Monday.
Garofalo issued a statement apologizing for the tweet, which had been retweeted more than 1,500 times as of Monday afternoon. The lawmaker said he meant to refer to certain individuals, rather than NBA players as a group, when he tweeted that “70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/possible exception of increase in streetcrime.”
Garofalo’s statement reads in full:
“In the last 24 hours, I’ve had the opportunity to re-learn one of life’s lessons: Whenever any of us are offering opinions, it is best to refer to people as individuals as opposed to groups. Last night, I publicly commented on the NBA, and I sincerely apologize to those who I unfairly categorized. The NBA has many examples of players and owners who are role models for our communities and for our country. Those individuals did not deserve that criticism, and I apologize. In addition, it’s been brought to my attention that I was mistaken, and the NBA policy on drug enforcement is stronger than I previously believed. Again, I offer my sincere apologies for my comments.”
