Marshall Henderson Twitter Controversy: Michael Sam Kiss 'Sickening' to Former Ole Miss Guard, but READ His Lame Excuse
ByFor Michael Sam, his celebratory kiss shared with boyfriend Vito Cammisano was bound to go viral, but also to generate some unfortunate reactions from people on the Internet.
Enter Marshall Henderson, who just played his fourth and final season for the University of Mississippi Rebels basketball team. After ESPN aired the kiss on "SportsCenter," Henderson took to Twitter to weigh in on the decision, as many did.
(Following tweets contain some explicit language).
A retired NFL running back, Derrick Ward shared a similar sentiment, stating on Twitter he was concerned "little kids" would be watching. But Henderson is out of Ole Miss' jurisdiction and Ward is retired, so neither faced punishment for exercising free speech.
However, the Miami Dolphins penalized one of its employees, defensive back Don Jones, for tweeting "OMG" and "Horrible" after the kiss aired. The Dolphins fined Jones and suspended him from team activities until he completes sensitivity training, CBS Sports reported. He also issued a public apology to Sam and to the Dolphins organization.
Henderson did no such thing and instead offered an excuse for why he wanted to appear grossed out by Sam and Cammisano's kiss. Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork was sure to condemn Henderson's statements even though the guard no longer plays for the team.
The following is a series of tweets combined into one statement, the capitalized letters, emphasis, punctuation and acronyms are all Henderson's.
"THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT AND RESPONSES!!! MY NEXT TWEET IS REALLY GONNA THROW EVERYONE A CURVEBALL. One of my best friends, WHO IS GAY, is about to graduate in psychology, asked me to say these things so he can have responses. The point of his study was to see how people react when others say things or act a certain way against another group of people. He chose gays because of how he relates to it and has to live it EVERYDAY of his life... He asked me because he knew I would get incredible feedback, and OMG how crazy you people are lol... It is absolutely amazing to see what people have said, whether agreeing or disagreeing. As far as what I said, totally was 100% for the project... as far as my ACTUAL views - its irrelevant because its gonna happen regardless! Sorry for messing with everyone like that!!! Everyone really helped my boy AND FOR THAT WE ARE EXTREMELY APPRECIATIVE!!!"
Neither Sam nor Cammisano have commented on their very public kiss, nor should they have to. They were apparently busy partying in Las Vegas anyway, the New York Daily News reported.
Being a seventh-round draft pick, ESPN only wanted to capture Sam's reaction to being drafted since he is set to become the NFLs first openly gay football player.