Bloomsburg University dismissed Joey Casselberry from the baseball team over the weekend after a tweet of his regarding local Little League all-star Mo’ne Davis was published in very poor taste. Casselberry referred to Davis as a slut in a response to the news Disney is going to be using the Davis story as inspiration for an upcoming Disney Channel movie. Bloomsburg acted on Casselberry’s dismissal quickly, which as far as I am concerned was a fine decision.
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
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A university cannot have a representative wearing the school colors after publicly referring to a 13-year old girl in this way. Maybe Casselberry is a good person beyond this one moment of infamy, I have no idea. But I applaud Bloomsburg for their decision on this incident. We must not confuse freedom of speech with a privilege to play baseball at a college. I must admit though, if I were in charge at Bloomsburg, I probably would have started with a simple suspension. Regardless, the decsiion has been made and Casselberry has to deal with the consequences.
Before Casselberry took down his Twitter account, he did post a series of tweets apologizing for the unfortunate remark. Here is what he posted on Twitter;
“I made a huge mistake last night with my tweet. I offended a lot of people and I am heartily sorry. It was incredibly irresponsible, and immature on my part. I fully expect to pay the price for this.
Being from the PA area, I understand the impact Mo.ne has made and she is an exceptional athlete and person. It’s unfortunate that my tweet doesn’t reflect who I truly am as a person. I would like to sincerely apologize to Mo.ne, anyone offended, my family/friends and university for my stupid tweet that I completely regret. Please let this be 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 for all female athletes. Mo’ne Davis, I am sorry for my pathetic tweet. I wish I had the opportunity to talk to you face to face and give you the sincere apology that you deserve.”
Having covered college football for a while now I have seen some coaches completely ban their players from Twitter, at least during the season. Twitter is an amazing outlet, but it can magnify the stupidity of some very quickly when not handled appropriately and carelessly. This latest story is just another example of how widespread one poor tweet can be and the impact it can have.
On another note, it is amazing how Davis continues to outshine the dredge that lurks online even months after her Little League World Series unfolded. Keep on being you, Mo’ne.
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