TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis tweeted an anti-Asian slur on Sunday night and has since apologized, saying he did not realize the term’s deeply hurtful meaning.
“I have to stop leaving g —- in Miami,” Carlton wrote in the since deleted tweet.
Davis, 24, apologized for using the blemish in subsequent tweets, saying he thought the term meant “ crippled. ”
“I would never offend a group of people,” Davis wrote in a tweet accompanied by an image from an undisclosed slang dictionary. You reporters can look for another story to blow up. The term was aimed at a producer who claimed he ‘ran Miami’. With that being said, I’ll remove that word from my vocabulary and get through the tough times That our Asian family is going through ❤️.
“I’ve used a term where I’m from that always meant ‘crippled’, but I didn’t realize it has a much darker, negative connotation. I’ve learned a valuable lesson and would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by seeing that word because we need to focus on helping each other in these troubled times. “
According to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate Extremism, hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen nearly 150% in major American cities in the past year, with several incidents making headlines in recent weeks.
Davis has spoken out against racism and his experiences as a black man in the past. He is part of the Bucs Social Justice Council, which met with community leaders last summer to discuss how the police can build better relationships with the black community.