Amar’e Stoudemire Fined $50K For Offensive Language

~ The Knicks Amar’e Stoudemire found himself in hot water with the NBA for tweeting a gay slur in a direct message formatted response towards a fan who had took it upon himself to tell Stoudemire that he needed to step his game up next season. The fan took a screenshot of Stoudemire’s message and put it out on twitter for everyone to see, including the NBA.

 The tweet cost Stoudemire $50,000. The league fined him for “using offensive and derogatory language in a Twitter message.”

 Stoudemire did apologize to the fan and has taken accountability for it, however I’m sure he knew as soon as he pressed send on that tweet that his wallet was going to be significantly lighter within a few days. It’s another example of professional athletes paying the price for not remembering that twitter is very public. When you press send, you have to be prepared for the response you’re going to receive … positive or negative.