Athletes Who Ruined Their Careers On Social Media

By the time most athletes become well-known and successful, they've probably clocked in countless hours of physical training. But some don't seem to get an equal amount of social media training, and it often results in these unsavvy internet users getting in trouble for something they posted. As most probably know, a person can decimate their career by sharing the wrong tweet or photo, and the stakes seem higher for athletes since they usually have fans, whether they're famous or not. Even if the sports star quickly deletes their offending post, it's often too late: It's already been captured and shared. And the more popular the athlete, the faster their message will be screenshotted and passed around digitally.

For this retrospective, we're remembering some of the people who were on the receiving end of heavy backlash for their social media shares. A few were hit with harsh words for their posts, others lost major jobs, and all of them sullied their reputation — at least for that moment. Then there are some who said they shouldn't have been fired in the first place and fought back. So, here it is, athletes who ruined their careers on social media in one fell swoop.

First, he ripped his coach Todd Haley on Twitter, then he used a homophobic slur. We're talking about former NFL player Larry Johnson, who in 2009 made some off-the-field fumbles while playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. It all started when the Chiefs got blown out by the San Diego Chargers 37-7, something that Johnson seemed to blame Haley for. 

"My father got more credentials than most of these pro coaches," Johnson tweeted in a series of messages, which were captured by Yahoo! Sports. His dad was a defensive line coach for Penn State at the time, per PFT. "My father played for the coach from 'rememeber the titans,'" Johnson added. "Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn."

And if that wasn't enough, the former running back used a homophobic slur after another Twitter user brought up a past legal run-in involving a woman at a nightclub. On top of that, when reporters asked him about his tweets aimed at Haley, he used the F-word again while telling them to beat it, according to KCSP (via PFT). Johnson was eventually suspended for his Haley tweets and waived by the Chiefs in late 2009. Then two years later, after being picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals, Washington Redskins, and Miami Dolphins, he was out of the NFL for good. 

Here's a suggestion: If you're a famous, retired NBA player, who was later hired as an analyst by ESPN, you probably shouldn't post a super suggestive video involving exotic dancers. But that's exactly what Paul Pierce did in April of 2021, and he was terminated for his actions.

In an Instagram Live video that instantly went viral, the former Boston Celtics forward can be seen at a poker game inside a house. Nothing scandalous there, right? But maybe it was the exotic dancer rubbing his neck that did him in. Or possibly the bikini-clad woman that twerked in the background. Plus, Pierce is seen puffing on what looks to be weed, per the Daily Mail, while tossing back a shot in the clip. 

Before the much-talked-about video, Pierce had been hired to be an analyst for ESPN's "NBA Countdown" and "The Jump" ahead of the 2017-2018 season. News of his firing came just three days after the video surfaced, per Front Office Sports. Then, in September of 2021, Pierce told Sports Illustrated that he didn't care about getting let go because he didn't like working for ESPN and wasn't sorry for the racy footage. "What the f*** did I do? " he asked. "I was just having a good time. All the people coming after me, half you motherf******s do the same s**t. You're just hiding it. And you all are married while you're doing it. I'm divorced."

Look, when a famous athlete sticks up for someone on social media who's been mistreated, he or she will often be praised. But when that person defends someone who was considered public enemy number one, things will probably go a lot differently. Somehow, that fact eluded former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall because in 2011 he criticized people for celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. Of course, bin Laden boasted about his involvement in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the hijacking of the third plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

"What kind of person celebrates death?" tweeted Mendenhall on the same day the former Al-Qaeda leader was killed by United States Navy SEALs. "It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side." He also expressed doubt that bin Laden even planned the attacks, according to The Atlantic. 

After the backlash came, the former football star wrote on his blog that he wasn't "questioning Bin Laden's evil acts," he was trying to "generate conversation." "I apologize for the timing [on] such a sensitive matter, but it was not meant to do harm," wrote Mendenhall, according to ESPN. He was fired by the sportswear company Champion soon after, with a spokesperson saying his views were "inconsistent" with their values. In 2014, Mendenhall retired, explaining that he'd rather write and travel instead of play football.

There were celebrations and cheers in many parts of the United States when Barack Obama was elected to be the first Black president of the United States on November 4, 2008. But Buck Burnette, a former backup center for the University of Texas, wished harm on Obama, something that he relayed on his Facebook page. On his profile, Burnette encouraged "all the hunters to gather up" and go after the former president while also using what was seemingly supposed to be the N-word in censored form, per Deadspin. Then miraculously, the Wimberley, Texas, native had an epiphany and realized that his message was over-the-top wrong, as well as harmful. 

"Clearly, I have made a mistake and apologized for it and will pay for it," Burnette wrote on his Facebook page, which he later deactivated. "I received it as a text message from an acquaintance and immaturely put it up ... I'm not racist and apologize for offending you. I grew up on a ranch in a small town where that was a real thing and I need to grow up. I sincerely am sorry for being ignorant in thinking that it would be ok to write that publicly." You're only sorry for writing it "publicly," huh? Anyway, it wasn't too long before Burnette was kicked off the team by former Longhorns coach Mack Brown. And as of December 2021, it seems that Burnette is a windows and doors specialist, based on his Twitter profile.

One day you're doing high leg kicks and waving pom-poms as a cheerleader for the New England Patriots, the next you're apologizing after being ousted from the team. That's what happened to Caitlin Davis in 2008 after a Facebook pic made the internet rounds. The photo showed the then-18-year-old posing with a marker in her hand next to a passed-out man who had swastikas drawn on him. There were also drawings of the male anatomy on his face and the words "I'm a Jew" scrawled on his arm. In a statement, Stacey James, a spokesperson for the NFL cheerleading team, said Davis was "no longer with the squad," per the Boston Herald. Plus, Davis issued a statement to TMZ and said although she didn't write or draw on the man, she should've been "alert" enough to realize what she was doing.

"The kid in the picture was a drunk guy who passed out and was written on," Davis explained. "Me and my girls left the dorm ... and came back to the kid passed out on the futon we were suppose to sleep on. The guys ended up drawing more on him due to the fact that he was the first one to pass out on Halloween night ... At the time I had jumped in the picture with the kid, I didn't realize what had been drawn on him." Davis has kept a low profile since that apology, which is probably a good idea.

The year 2016 will probably forever be extremely memorable for NBA player D'Angelo Russell. That's because one, it was his rookie season, and two, it was the year he caused a big old scandal. It happened when he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers and was accused of recording a Snapchat video of his former teammate Nick Young. In that clip, Young confessed that he had cheated on rapper Iggy Azalea, who was his fiancée at the time. 

Former Los Angeles Times reporter Mike Bresnahan soon tweeted that Russell had asked for Young's forgiveness, which Young accepted. But reportedly, a lot of the Lakers players wanted nothing to do with Russell, something that clearly affected him. "I feel as sick as possible," he said at a press conference. He also spoke about being booed at a Lakers home game after the video leaked. "I can't really show my face anywhere without people hating me right now," Russell explained, per ESPN.

Later in 2019, Young talked about the video leak on Kevin Hart's "Cold as Balls" YouTube series. Hart said the media made the situation worse, but Young disagreed. "Nah," it was kind of bad," the athlete admitted. Since the scandal, he and Russell were both traded from the Lakers. As of January 2022, Young is a free agent, while Russell plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Furthermore, Azalea broke up with Young in 2016 for allegedly cheating on her.

Being a successful Australian swimmer, Stephanie Rice probably swam in her fair share of heated pools. But when she found herself in hot water for an offensive tweet in 2010, it was something new to her. Rice sent the tweet right after Australia's rugby team the Wallabies beat South Africa's Springboks squad 30-13. "Suck on that," she typed, before adding the F-word, an obvious homophobic slur. Rice was of course blasted for her tweet by the public and by fellow athletes. Eventually, she apologized on her blog and per Reuters wrote, "I made a comment on Twitter on Saturday night in the excitement of the moment. I did not mean to cause offense and I apologize." Rice also said sorry at a press conference, but still, the then 22-year-old lost her endorsement deal with the luxury car brand Jaguar.

"Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010," said the company's general manager Kevin Goult in a statement (via Reuters). It's also said that Rice had to give back a Jaguar XF that she was given while working with the brand, which was worth around $100,000 at the time. Yes, it's true that Rice's career wasn't completely ruined by the tweet, but who's to say how much more money she would've made in endorsements if Jaguar didn't let her go? 

A tweet from Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou got her suspended from the 2012 London Olympics. What did she write back then? We'll let you read the message for yourself, but it had to do with African people living in her country. "With so many Africans in Greece, the mosquitoes from the West Nile will at least be eating some homemade food," tweeted Papachristou. Then, after finding herself knee-deep in backlash, she fought back.

"I'm not a stuck CD!" Papachristou wrote in a follow-up tweet later shared by ABC News. "And if I make mistakes, I do not hit replay! I continue playing!" A couple of days later, however, she changed her tone, writing on her social media pages, "I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered since I never wanted to offend anyone or to encroach human rights." 

Still, Greece's Olympic Committee brought the hammer down on the athlete harder than Thor. And that was slightly before she was supposed to head to London for the games. "She showed no respect for a basic Olympic value and unfortunately she is out. She made a mistake and in life we pay for our mistakes," said Isidoros Kouvelos, the country's Olympic mission chief, while speaking to the Independent. 

Former NFL player Fernando Bryant said he was baffled after being fired from a head football coaching job at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Georgia, in 2017. He was terminated just 20 days after being hired, and it all had to do with a social media photo that showed him and his wife Amber Bryant holding a bottle of liquor. But here's the thing: Fernando said the school saw the photo during his interview process, which confused him even more. Plus, the image was taken three years before he even interviewed for the position.

In short, the school said the picture didn't align with the school's Christian values, and it was brought to their attention by a student's parent. Moreover, Amber was a cast member of Bravo's "Mother Funders," which the player-turned-coach believed made some parents uncomfortable.

"I wasn't given a chance to defend myself," Fernando said in an interview shared by WFMY News 2, a CBS affiliate. "It makes you wonder what kind of times we're in." Then, in May of 2017, it was reported that the former Jacksonville Jaguars star filed a lawsuit against the school because he felt his firing had nothing to do with the photo. "I felt like I was fired because of discrimination," he told 11 Alive. "I feel like there's something else." As of January 2022, there's no word as to what came of Fernando's lawsuit since both he and Strong Rock eventually kept quiet on the matter.

Bailey Davis, an ex-cheerleader for the New Orleans Saints, was terminated after posting an Instagram photo of herself in a one-piece. The outfit can easily be called a bodysuit, but the Saints considered it lingerie and found it distasteful. Davis was also accused of attending a party with players, which is a big no-no and something she denied. She was with the Saints for three years before being fired and spoke to The New York Times about the different rules of conduct cheerleaders had from players. One such rule prohibited the women from fraternizing with the players, either in person or online. But there were no rules against the men interacting with them, which Davis called unfair. 

After her termination, she filed a complaint against the Saints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and started an initiative called "#LevelThePlayingField." "I want us to be treated like professional athletes who have worked hard and who do our job well," said Davis in an interview shared by "Today." But the Saints denied treating her unfairly and said she broke a rule barring cheerleaders from showing themselves in lingerie, nude, or semi-nude. 

"The Saints organization strives to treat all employees fairly, including Ms. Davis," said the team's lawyer in a statement. "For now, it is sufficient to say that Ms. Davis was not subjected to discrimination because of her gender." As of January 2022, it appears that Davis is teaching cheerleading and instead of doing it for the NFL.