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Amar’e Stoudemire Is Being Investigated By The NBA For His Gay-Slur-Infused Tweet

It’s been a rough offseason for the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire, if for no other reason than it started with a much-ballyhooed fight with a fire extinguisher and was highlighted by dressing like a “Final Fight” villain.

This week, that rough offseason got rougher. And much like Stoudemire’s now-infamous injury (and that unfortunate sleeveless denim number), this one was completely his fault.

Over the weekend, Stoudemire received this razzing message from Twitter user @BFerrelli:

To which Stoudemire responded, via direct message (direct messages are private messages on Twitter):

Uh-oh. @BFerrelli then took a screenshot of the private message, and posted it. The sports blogosphere soon caught wind, and, perhaps aware that he had a problem on his hands, Amar’e sent @BFerrelli an apologetic message.

Welp, at least he didn’t say his account was hacked.

The NBA, which has a pretty strict track record with dealing with homophobia, is now investigating the tweets. What exactly that investigation leads to remains to be seen, but a financial penalty is likely. And although fining a player $10,000 for sending someone the equivalent of a bitchy text message may seem steep, there are some other factors in play.

For one, the person who got that message is a fan. Two, the NBA takes its social media proficiency very seriously, and any negative Twitter-related press is not good press. Third, and most importantly, you can’t use that word — the NBA made that very clear during the Kobe Bryant lip-reading fiasco. Sidebar: you’d figure a dude who spends Fashion Week in Milan would know better. Tsk tsk, STAT.

UPDATE: Stoudemire has been fined $50,000 by the NBA for using offensive and derogatory language on Twitter.

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