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LeBron Tweets “R.I.P. Gus Johnson” (Not The Announcer), Sends Twitter Into Tizzy

LeBron James is proud to be from Akron (or the King of Akron, as his Twitter page says), so when a fellow Akronite makes good, he’ll take notice…even if it has unintended results.

Yesterday, Akron native Gus Johnson was inducted into basketball’s Hall of Fame. Johnson averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds during his NBA career, was fully deserving of a shoutout from LeBron, and got it:

Also Congratulations to Akron’s very own Gus Johnson on being inducted on [sic] the HOF. Seen his pics as a kid around the city growing up

However, Johnson died in 1987, so LeBron added this as an addendum:

R.I.P Gus Johnson

The problem: as you probably know, there is another prominent Gus Johnson in the sporting world, and he’s one of the most well-known announcers working today. Importantly, Gus Johnson the announcer is not dead. However, many people who enjoy listening to Gus Johnson announce may be entirely unaware that there even is another Gus Johnson LeBron might know about.

This led to about what you’d think it would. At the time you click that link, it’s likely there will still be people believing the announcer has died, as well as some who realize what’s going on, and some simply confused about which Gus Johnson LeBron is talking about.

Photo via
At this time, LeBron has not issued a tweet clarifying what he meant, so let us once again issue our PSA for the day: Gus Johnson the announcer is not dead. He is still around to bring you his excitable brand of play-by-play, particularly for the NFL and NCAA basketball tournament. LeBron was talking about a basketball player. You may exhale and go about your day.