Former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall was getting beat up online by conservatives over his assertion that white people aren't good at football and the NFL should schedule a segregated game to prove his theory.
"I'm sick of average white guys commenting on football. Y'all not even good at football," Mendenhall posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. "Can we please replace the Pro Bowl with an All-Black vs. All-White bowl so these cats can stop trying to teach me who's good at football. I'm better than ur goat."
The post had been viewed more than 15 million times on Monday, but soared to nearly 70 million by Tuesday afternoon.
The blowback mostly focused on Mendenhall's miscues handling the football, including a fumble during Super Bowl XLV a dozen years ago that led to a Green Bay Packers touchdown and a 31-25 victory over his Pittsburgh Steelers.
"It's even funnier when you realize the highlight of his career was fumbling in the Super Bowl after being lit up by a white guy," conservative activist and sports fan Greg Price posted for his 332,500 followers on X.
The "white guy" who caused the fumble was Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, and some used a photo of Matthews, or of Mendenhall fumbling, to make their case, such as Vince Langman, a self-described "ex-con deplorable" supporter of former President Donald Trump with 129,700 followers on X.
"When, the only reason people know your name is because you're the guy who fumbled in the Super Bowl. You become a miserable racist POS," posted Langman.
"Fumbling away fans like they were the biggest game of your life, I see," posted Wilfred Reilly, a self-described "freedom rider" supporter of Trump with 107,900 followers on X.
Political commentator and bestselling author Matt Walsh with 2.6 million followers on X posted: "You averaged fewer than 4 yards a carry during your short and unremarkable career and are best known for fumbling in the Super Bowl and costing your team the win. If average guys can't comment on football then lackluster nobodies really better shut up."
Mendenhall followed up with a bit of damage control, by posting on X: "Simply tired of being berated by people who aren't experts in de game. We just pretend like I'm the only athlete tired of fans talking trash? You dis upset over a single tweet. What about us? Like me or not, I'm a GREAT in football. This proves my point, u can's speak on ball alone."
Mendenhall also addressed the infamous fumble by reminding his 66,100 followers on X that Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw two interceptions in that Super Bowl.
But the damage was done in conservative circles, with right-leaning Breitbart News, for example, calling the follow-up tweet "deflection."
"If he had restricted his statements to saying that athletes are tired of fans 'talking trash,' this would have been no big deal. Instead, he made it about race," the outlet wrote.
Taking the high road, former star defensive end J.J. Watt responded that, if there were a white vs. Black game, "We'd get cooked at corner, not gonna lie. Nobody on our side is covering Tyreek," a reference to wide receiver Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins.
When an X user complained that Watt didn't address Mendenhall's "blatant racism," Watt posted: "We don't need to be offended by everything in the entire world. He said white guys can't play football. I thought to myself 'I'm a white guy. I'm very good at football' and concluded that his statement had no validity. Instead of arguing, I had some fun."
Mendenhall is no stranger to controversy. In 2019 after star wide receiver Antonio Brown missed the final game of the season, then left the Steelers a month later, he posted on social media: "Think about what it would take to render @AB84, the GREATEST COMPETITOR of our generation, incapable of showing up to play in his last game."
After Twitter users asked for clarification, he tweeted: "Alright, I'll end the mystery... B's racist and @AB84's black. He had to catch balls from a racist quarterback. Every honest player knows it, it's not a big deal. He was just supposed to take his lickings and move on, like a slave for real."
Mendenhall also courted controversy in the midst of his career by appearing to buy into conspiracy theories surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon. Ten years after the attack, after U.S. military forces killed Osama bin Laden, he tweeted: "I'm not convinced he was even behind the attacks we have really seen no evidence to prove it other than the gov telling us."
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