A Bloomsburg University player has been kicked off of the team for tweeting offensive things about 14-year-old Little League star Mo’ne Davis.
In a tweet from March 20, first baseman Joey Casselberry called the young athlete a “slut.” His Twitter account has been deactivated but the tweet about Davis?was screenshot :
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/casselberry-tweet.jpg
Casselberry has apologized saying:
“I am in no way shape or form a sexist and am a huge fan of Mo?ne. She was quite an inspiration.?
But still, the university decided to remove Casselberry from the team. The school tweeted:
“Bloomsburg Univ is deeply saddened by what was written about #MoneDavis by one of our student-athletes. His words do not represent us.”
Mo’ne Davis has risen to stardom by competing brilliantly in this past year’s Little League Championship. The famed?Sports Illustrated Magazine?named her the 2014 SportsKid of the Year. She is also very good at basketball and even put a spin move on comedian Kevin Hart in this year’s Celebrity All Star Game that had EVERYBODY talking. She has been praised not just for her athletic ability but for her character and poise. So this offensive tweet by a college male is even more shocking and uncalled for.
While I personally could care less about this guy getting kicked off of the team, Mo’ne has taken a very high road. She said on?SportsCenter?that “everyone makes mistakes” and “I know he didn’t mean it.” She even personally emailed the school asking for Casselberry to be reinstated.
The composure of Davis is stunning. The forgiveness and understanding within her heart is something millions of adults could learn from, including myself.
But what do you all think? Was this just a college guy being a bonehead? Or does this speak to larger issues of the intersection between race and sex and how we categorize young girls? Let us know!