Heisman Trophy Winner Forced To Apologize over Tweets He Made as a Teenager
Oklahoma star quarterback Kyler Murray became the second straight Sooners signal-caller to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.
Murray has been electric for the Sooners this year.
His 4,053 passing yards and 892 rushing yards are incredible stats in and of themselves, but his 40 passing touchdowns to only seven interceptions are extraordinary as well. Scoring 11 touchdowns on the ground certainly doesn’t hurt.
Now Murray must prepare for a brutal test, as his Sooners drew the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide in the first game of the College Football Playoff. The Sooners are significant underdogs in the upcoming Orange Bowl.
Unfortunately for Murray, Nick Saban’s stacked team won’t be the only issue he’ll have to deal with in the immediate future.
Shortly after Murray was announced as the Heisman winner, internet sleuths dug up some controversial tweets that have put Murray in hot water.
In a series of tweets from 2011 and 2012, when he would have been 14 or 15 years old, Murray used the word “queer” several times. USA Today referred to his comments as “anti-gay” slurs.
Murray’s offending tweets were reportedly still posted to his account on Saturday night, but have since been deleted,
To his credit, Murray issued a prompt apology on social media as soon as the controversy began gaining traction.
“I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15,” Murray wrote on Twitter. “I used a poor choice of word that doesn’t reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intent to single out any individual or group.”
This is hardly the first time that a prominent athlete has had a monumental moment marred over controversial childhood tweets.
Just days before the 2018 NFL draft, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was slammed for what many called “racist” tweets he made when he was about 15 years old. MLB All-Star reliever Josh Hader was forced to undergo “diversity training” after similar tweets he made as a 17 year old resurfaced during the All-Star Game.
Murray, who was chosen in the first round of the 2018 MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics and seems to be opting for a professional baseball career instead of football one, plans to report to spring training in 2019.
According to USA Today, neither the Athletics nor Oklahoma have commented on Murray’s past tweets.
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