Ron Artest has never been afraid to tell it like he sees it, especially while being one of the athletes who chooses to interact with his fans through the use of social media. He's taken it places it didn't even need to go, really: like giving out his cell phone number, or ripping his former team over a contract issue that didn't even make any sense.For a lot of fans, the unfiltered access is awesome; a way to truly see into the lives of one of their favorite players. But the direct contact might not be all it's cracked up to be -- especially in the case of one blogger, who unintentionally found himself on the wrong side of Artest's outgoing personality.
TrueHoop has been on the case since last week: basically, The Second Coming blog posted an open letter to Artest, asking him to not screw things up for the Lakers this season. (It was far more intricate, of course, but that was the gist.)
The person who wrote it, Kyle Slavin, dropped a friendly line to Artest, letting him know about the piece. Artest's quick, direct, and not-so-friendly response?
No law when it comes to me.
I let you type critics write and I just keep it hood.
That will never change.
I am not kissing no ones ass because I'm in LA. Suck a c***.
Artest's response was unacceptable.
Look, I get that he didn't like what he read, so he told the person who wrote it to basically get bent. But it's bad for the league, the team, and Artest personally to cuss people out in an e-mail or via Twitter.
Can you imagine if every athlete chose to respond to fans like this?
The league is a business, and it doesn't make any sense to have a player on its most marketable franchise (or really anywhere, for that matter) spouting off to fans, and using profanities in written form to do so.
The NBA released its social media guidelines recently, and so far, they really aren't all that restrictive. Players are prohibited from posting things online, or using cell phones from 45 minutes before tip-off, until the team's responsibilities with the media are completed after the game.
If we continue to see more outbursts like this one, you can bet that the league won't stand for it, and will enact a whole bunch more policies and restrictions on players communicating like this. It could get to a point where, if the poor judgment continues, the players' use of social media could get shut down completely.
For guys like Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard, who have figured out how to use these technologies to connect with fans in a meaningful and positive way, that would be a real shame.
Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Grow up fool.
I thought you said it was a fan? Just a blogger, a member of the media, someone who wrote a bit of a prickly column that Artest didn't like.
Nothing new about getting upset with the media for a lousy column......
Agreed, Jimmy. Lying that a blogger who has written a hatchet job and sent a copy hoping to say "He snubbed me" or "He was mean to me, Mommie!", was a fan who sent a friendly eamil is what is unacceptable, not Artest`s behavior. And since this is supposed to be a basketball blog, not a racist blog, who about talking a little basketball? Artest is a VERY muscular wing guard, who can easily defend wing forwards, and power forwards, and can even defend centers, despite his lack of height compared with standard front court players. He may start with the Laker`s leading assist man, whom the racist gays would loved to be raped by, Kobe Bryant. But in the playoffs, Artest may well guard Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James, even if they play forward, not guard. Artest is a decent inside scorer, a decent outside passer, not a decent outside scorer, but he has Kobe Bryant to shoot outside for him. Some folks seem to think they OWN other folks, and their computers. I get frequent hacker attacks, which the thugs, unfortunately, get away with. If folks don`t like chatting with Artest, something I have never tried to do, they don`t have to seek him out to try to antagonize him, either. Black voices is about race. If the racists want to get TOSsed for annoying black folks, let them voice their racism there. These sports blogs are about sports, not race. Some of the athletes are still white. And the sports are still entertaining even though whites rarely compete, much less win, unless the sport is admitted to be rigged. If we want racism, we can google the Ku Klux Klan, we don`t need racists volunteering their false notions about a non sports subject on a sports blog. Most of these athletes who are falsely accused of crimes because they are vital black males are never even falsely convicted, just mislabeled as if they were crooks by the white racist press. Some are convicted, but some whites are convicted, too. A cousin of mine was a sports reporter, 64 years old, punched out by a pitcher, who had been accused of rape, who was puffed as dating starlets, all the same sorts of nonsense blacks are accused of. My cousin had written an article about him the same day another guy from the same paper had written an article the pitcher didn`t like. He was confused, punched out an innocent old man. Both the pitcher and reporter were white, which was the norm in those days. Athletes have generally changed color, but they are no differently misbehaved than they ever were.
"No law when it comes to me?" "Keep it hood?" He sounds like a 12-year-old trying to talk tough.
Oh, yeah, he's a class act! Another overhyped sports figure who needs to learn some manners and self-control. He's a spoiled little boy who should keep his mouth zipped and hire a public relations person to handle all his emails, correspondence, press releases, and public appearances. He's evidently incapable of being in charge of such things himself.
He is nothing but TRASH.
Who wants his cell phone number.I like to talk to people with class.and he doesn't know what the word means. what a loser.
What happened to the good ole days when baseball football hockey basketball players played there sports never got into trouble now that is all you read about. It is terrible.
As a Lakers fan I wish Ron the best of luck, he is a great addition to the club and we will add another trophy to the cabinet this year.
look just like on the field if a fan curses out a player I feel and this is my opinion that the fan should expect to get it right back just like on the street we are still men
What a mistake the Lakers made bringing in this idiot onto the team. They now have a cancer to deal with. I'm a die-hard Laker fan, but I thought they had more class than that. Good luck coaching this goof.
Amen to that. Wonder how he got through 4 years at Lasalle Academy, a catholic school, with that mouth.
Come on people. Kyle Slavin (blogger, NOT fan) WANTED a response to get attention. Why else would he have sent the "article" to Artest? I respect the fact that Artest was willing to respond honestly. Most other athletes give the PC answer "everyone is entitled to their opinion" when you know they want to respond. This is not about race or where a person was raised for all of you elitists out there, this is about a man exercising his right to free speech. Someone had a negative comment about him, sent him the article and he responded. When O’Riley does it via is “pinhead” segment you lap it up. When Beck does for all 44 min of his show it is acceptable. When Olbermann does it via his “worst persons in the world” segment it is relevant. Why, when it is an athlete, should he sit down and shut up? Good for him for having the balls to speak the truth as he knew it.
Thank you, well said. If you dish it out, then you should be able to bend over and take it. He knew exactly who he was sending this article to, right or wrong, he was looking for- or should I say asking for a response of that type. And to all of the racist idiots who can't manage to post without bringing race into the picture, it just goes to show that there should be a litmus test when putting a topic out there for discussion. These idiots are obviously at a loss for words and live for a reaction, maybe they shouldn't let children under the age of 12 use a computer without parental supervision.
Some of the public think just because they purchase a ticket to a ballgame or pay to watch it on TV that they have the right to critize players. Get a life fans. It is a game. Nothing more.
Well if you only want one and you want athletes excluded then I'll say Denzel Washington. Now if you wanted more than one I'd include Oprah. And if you wanted to include athletes I'd say Venus Williams. Should I go on?
HE BETTER LEARN TO PLAY "TEAM"BASKETBALL.
used to be an avid 76er fan but have not watched a game since they got Iverson..Any game. I live in Dallas now and my next door neighbor runs a charity golf tourament where people pay up to $5000 to play with a former/current Dallas pro star. A Maverick showed up with his posse and expected them all to play. Played 4 holes and left. I am sure the people who played with him donated because of the worthy cause but to have the person just get up and leave shows that these NBA players are garbage...
So you are going to judge an entire league based on two players? Do you apply that to every aspect of your life? If so, then I'm going to assume you live off the grid because every group (religious, political, age) has affiliates that aren't exactly sterling so you can't associate with anyone. Ever. As a matter of fact, I'm sure Fanhouse has "fringe" bloggers so you shouldn't come back here. To go one step further, there are computer owners who have pirated music so unless you want to be considered a criminal, you should sell your computer ASAP. OMG, there are people who breathe air that have committed murder! Stop breathing!
See where I’m going with this?
name me one good white one pr**k. no cops please