Only a week after being let go from ESPN for posting an insensitive meme towards the transgender community, Curt Schilling decided to gamble away any credibility that might remain. He believed it would be a fantastic idea to exploit Prince’s death, pushing forward his conservative agenda. Schilling posted a meme of Prince discussing why he votes Republican.
The only problem is that the quote is fake:
Curt Schilling is celebrating his unemployment by sharing fake Prince quotes on Facebook https://t.co/UdWgRvBM0Y pic.twitter.com/wycymEwMZR
— Matt DeLong (@mattdelong) April 25, 2016
Prince is one who has always prided himself on shedding labels. He never let something so mundane define him. This particular quote also doesn’t fit his political stance on a wide array of subjects. Specifically, he has donated money and/or supported the Black Lives Matter movement and the families of Freddy Gray and Trayvon Martin.
Prince does hold some conservative religious views; however, these too work against the belief this meme holds any truth. Prince was a Jehovah’s witness which prevented him from voting altogether:
“The reason why is that I’m one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Prince said. “And we’ve never voted. That’s not to say I don’t think … President Obama is a very smart individual and he seems like he means well. Prophecy is what we all have to go by now.”
This particular post and his anti-transgender image from last week aren’t Schilling’s only run-ins with social media controversy. He once compared Muslims to Nazis, railed against the theory of evolution, and has brashly portrayed his extreme right wing views on a consistent basis. The backlash just doesn’t seem to slow down his propensity to gamble.
It seems to be a common place for extreme conservatives to be loud about their ignorance. It becomes problematic when we observe someone such as Schilling trying to exploit the death of a recently deceased icon. Prince was one who stood against everything Schilling is trying to use him for. He deserves better, Curt.
Here is Prince overshadowing fellow hall of famers:
Featured image by nico7martin via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution License
