President Barack Obama pauses during a speech at an interfaith vigil for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012 at Newtown High School in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Evan Vucci, AP
NBC interrupted its broadcast of the much-anticipated Sunday Night Football matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots early in the first quarter to cut to President Obama's speech addressing the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Watching the game on TV, University of North Alabama football player Bradley Peterson didn't appreciate the programming change and voiced his displeasure with an ugly, racist tweet about Obama.
"Take that n***** off the tv, we wanna watch football!" Peterson wrote, according to multiple reports, although his account has since been deleted.
According to the Twitter account of UNA Athletic Director Mark Linder, Peterson has since been thrown off the football team.
@jeremyledlow @unafootball Thx 2 everyone who brought to our attention. @unaathletics does not condone. He is no longer a member of the team
— Mark Linder (@UNAAthletics) December 17, 2012
Peterson's was one of many tweets that used strong language and racial epithets to complain about the President's Newtown, Conn., speech.
Ryan Carreon is a new media staff writer for the Deseret News. Email: rcarreon@deseretnews.com. Landon Hemsley is sports content manager for DeseretNews.com Email: lhemsley@desnews. Twitter: @EarlOfHemsley
Read more about Bradley Peterson's racist tweet on Mashable.
DeseretNews.com encourages a civil dialogue among its readers. We welcome your thoughtful comments.
— About comments
Landon is the Sports Content Manager for DeseretNews.com. Landon has backgrounds in web development, digital product management and journalism. He previously managed FamilyNews.com for Deseret Digital Media and reported more ..
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This is absurd. His comment was distasteful but there's no way this should ruin his career. If he'd said it to a number of friends at a sports bar nobody would have thought twice about it.
Over in the UK they throw people in jail More..
Come on! I have heard people in the news media say far worse about President Bush, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and others and they got laughs from the audience! Please tell me, why its different when people say anything about Obama? Not saying I approve More..
I don't mean to be disrespectful here to the families who are suffering but after watching Obama make his remarks regarding the shooting I didn't get the sense that the man had true emotion. I know I know he supposedly shed a tear - More..