A baseball player for Bloomsburg University was kicked off the team following an offensive tweet he posted about Mo’ne Davis, breakout star of the Little League World Series.
Joey Casselberry, a first baseman for the team, was responsible for the vulgar message and has since deleted his Twitter account where the tweet was posted.
The university, located in Bloomsburg, Pa., took swift action in removing Casselberry from the team, and issued several tweets about the incident, first apologizing for the student-athlete’s words and then acknowledging his dismissal from the team.
Bloomsburg Univ is deeply saddened by what was written about #MoneDavis by one of our student-athletes. His words do not represent us.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015
We take matter very seriously; addressed the issue with the student-athlete (who has been dismissed from team), coach, and the team.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015
Before deleting his Twitter account, Casselberry tweeted an apology, saying, “An example that one stupid tweet can ruin someone’s life and I couldn’t be more sorry about my actions last night. I please ask you to…Forgive me and truly understand that I am in no way shape or form a sexist, and I am a huge fan of Mo’ne. She was quite an inspiration.”
His original tweet read, "Disney is making a movie about Mo'ne Davis? WHAT A JOKE. That [redacted] got rocked by Nevada"
Davis rose to fame after becoming the first female to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series last summer. Following the offensive tweet, support for Davis and the university’s decision to dismiss Casselberry was widespread over Twitter. Maybe it's time for Casselberry (and everyone else) to brush up on our nine social media dos and don'ts for student-athletes.
UPDATE: In a display of forgiveness, Davis and her coach, Alex Rice, have sent an email to Bloomsburg president David Soltz asking for Casselberry to be reinstated to the team, TMZ first reported. However, a spokesman for the school told BuzzFeed News that it was standing by its decision to dismiss Casselberry.
In an interview with ESPN's SportsCenter, Davis explained her reasoning:
"Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance," she said. "I know he didn't mean it in that type of way, and I know a lot of people get tired of seeing me on TV, but you kind of just gotta think about what you're doing before you actually do it. I know right now, he's really hurt and I know how hard he worked just to get to where he is right now. I was pretty hurt on my part, but I know he's hurt even more."
