USAToday- On Monday an old tweet from the account of Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo re-emerged just as he was being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
The tweet from August 2011 is a lyric from Meek Mill song Derrick Rose that had been released just more than a week earlier. The tweet, and lyric, in question is: “Ballin on these niggas like I’m derrick rose!” “I didn’t do that,’’ DiVincenzo said after he scored a game-high 31 points in Villanova’s victory against Michigan in the national title game. At the time of the tweet, DiVincenzo was 14 and living in Wilmington, Del., but a white kid using that racially charged word is always a problem. DiVincenzo, 21, did confirm the Twitter account on which the tweet appears is his. “It’s my account, yes,’’ he said. “But I never remember doing that.” When asked who else could have been responsible for the tweet, he replied, “That’s a good question.’’ The tweet was deleted after a reporter asked a question about it. Villanova initially released a statement saying the account had been hacked and was deactivated. ------------ Full disclosure, I have absolutely no familiarity with the adolescence of Donte DiVincenzo. That said, I still feel pretty comfortable in saying that a random, no-name white kid growing up in Delaware wasn't the victim of an internet hijacking that was aimed at publicizing a rap line that was only as inappropriate as it was unoriginal and just learned about it seven years after the fact. What I'm trying to say is that the "I was hacked" excuse has never been more laughable than it is here. Yet, somehow, that's still not as bad of a joke as media members questioning the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player on his early-teenage twitter usage moments after he helped cut down the net that he nearly set on fire, NBA Jam-style, during last night's National Championship. The internet - as an entity - has no shortage of shame or free time, so these timeline deep dives are always going to come to the surface whenever a star, be it in sports or entertainment, is born. While it takes a real loser to devote the time to do the digging in search of some cheap retweets, I can't act like I haven't found myself intrigued by some of the findings. That doesn't mean that real-life journalists, who are supposed to be bound by some modicum of integrity, trying to turn a kid's one shining moment into the bright light of an interrogation sits well with me. I get that publicly posting the n-word, no matter the time or context, is frowned upon when your skin is a shade of vanilla. I just can't say with absolute certainty that I too wasn't once young and dumb enough to carelessly let one fly in maintaining lyrical authenticity. It's just far more moronic than it is racial for a white kid whose sport of choice had him engulfed in the culture to be quoting Meek Mill word-for-word. To not understand that is to not realize that a vehicle that encourages public oversharing by high schoolers is sure to leave some ignorant and cringeworthy results. Donte DiVincenzo grew up shooting hoops, spreading the gospel of hip hop a little too well, hating a father that was failing to live vicariously through his athleticism, and being well ahead of his time sexually. As someone that owned multiple velour tracksuits and a CD case full of 'Explicit Content', I'm going to go ahead and say that's more normal than it is newsworthy. So can we just let him enjoy the fruits of his jaw-dropping labor instead of blasting him for once being just as insufferable of an asshole as every 14 year old millennial that probably deserved a punch in the face during puberty?
1 Comment
6/15/2022 02:47:04 am
Donte DiVincenzo starred in Villanova's national championship victory over Michigan. He scored 31 points, including five 3-pointers, and earned Most Outstanding Player honors.But he was also asked about regrettable tweets from seven years ago that were brought to light shortly before the championship game began.DiVincenzo addressed the issue during a press conference after winning the title Tuesday night. He said he'd been called out on it by his teammates and coaches during the week.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2020
|