Ja Morant from the team Memphis Grizzlies has managed to kick up controversy on June 28. He reposted a photo on social media which contains slander aimed at the police officers. He then subsequently apologized for the post saying that it didn’t reflect his true intentions. The photo has “F— 12” printed on the rear part of Morant’s jersey which insulted police officers. “F— 12” is a slang that is anti-police and directly insults them. Morant has the jersey number 12 so the slang is a clever way to insult the police. In his apology, he mentions that the photo didn’t exactly convey his words appropriately. Ja Morant anti-police post apology is put up by him on his Twitter account.
Ja Morant anti-police post apology on Twitter
Morant kicked up the controversy on Twitter and apologized on Twitter as well. He apologized the very next day after realizing that the post was unnecessarily offensive. His tweet stated that he wants “F— 12” printed on his jersey in the caption above the photo. Morant put up the exact same post on his Instagram story as well. Later, Morant deleted those posts and then apologized.
Morant says that his post intends to target the rotten cops who end up getting away with killing unarmed Black people. He expresses that he wished to highlight how police officers continue the Black Lives Matter agitators. A day after the initial photo, he put up an apology that clarifies all this. He says that he is aware of the good cops that enroll with the police force. Some of his family members too are cops. He thanked the cops who look after him and his team as well as the rest of the country. In the end, Morant says the world needs good cops and that they should step up and take charge. This will stop bad ones from misusing power and bring order to the police force.
‼️✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/WU6AEKuDa0
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) June 29, 2020
Black Lives Matter Protests
Morant says that too many people from the Black community have been killed due to racism. These deaths were avoidable. In the end, he says that some people may see him as just a basketball player but wants to speak up. He won’t apologise for his stand and he won’t remain silent any longer. He is a strong advocate for ‘Black Lives Matter’. Morant questioned why dirty and racist cops don’t see any convictions. He also asked why Breonna Taylor hasn’t gotten justice till now. Taylor was a medical worker who was 26 years old and from the Black community. Taylor was shot dead by the police in March in the town of Louisville, Kentucky. The police didn’t knock and ended up shooting Taylor at least 8 times.
Final Thoughts
Chris Paul has stated that players can now wear jerseys with messages about social justice or charity on them. Chris Paul is the president of the National Basketball Players Association. These messages will replace the last name of the players on the jerseys. The NBA and the union are working together to achieve this.
