In what should be a month to celebrate all the wonderful, empowering traits of womanhood, the Toronto Raptors found themselves in the middle of a severe PR crisis. What makes it worse is the fact that such a crisis was completely avoidable and utterly humiliating.
The Raptors’ Twitter account said, “Beyonce said girls run the world. Why do you think that’s true?” Rather than some inspiring or even slightly jovial responses, the Raptors ignited a social media firestorm thanks to two of their bench players’ comments.
Both Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn turned this question into an incredibly distasteful video, both times referring to their ability to bear children. Tone-deaf doesn’t even begin to describe this response, and posting it on the official Twitter account (before swiftly deleting it) was an unforced error.
“We’re an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake,” read a statement published in the Toronto Sun, “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans – we’ll work to do better today and every day after.”
The Raptors issued an apology for their Women's History Month video that was posted on their Twitter account on Wednesday:
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 3, 2023
"We're an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a pic.twitter.com/uQKEOaz7u2…
More Raptors news:
- Two-way point guard Jeff Dowtin scored 26 points and dished out nine assists while leading Raptors 905 to a victory over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in G League play. Dowtin has played so well that all corners of Raptors fandom are in agreement that Toronto should seriously consider signing him to a proper NBA contract.
- Christian Koloko, who has been excommunicated from the Raptors’ rotation following the addition of Jakob Poeltl, recorded 16 points on 8-12 shooting with five rebounds. Two-way forward Ron Harper Jr. tallied 12 points and four assists, while sniper Joe Wieskamp scored 17 points and hit a trio of 3-pointers.
https://twitter.com/Raptors905/status/1631491842079440896
NBA news:
- Current free agent and Raptors Twitter punching bag Goran Dragic might be nearing a deal to join a championship contender in the near future, as the Milwaukee Bucks are considered to be the frontrunners for his services. His Bulls waive may actually give him a better shot at competing for a title in a strange twist of fate.
- Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac, who recently made his return to the NBA after missing the last two seasons with injuries, has been shut down for the remainder of the 2022-23 season with a torn left adductor. It is fair to wonder if Isaac, who averaged 5.0 points per game this season, will ever be healthy enough to play in the NBA again.