Floyd Mayweather: Jeremy Lin Hyped Up Because He's Asian

It turns out not everyone has jumped on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon. Outspoken and undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. tweeted on Monday that he doesn't believe Lin is doing anything particularly noteworthy, claiming that race -- not performance -- is the source of the hype around the New York Knicks' Asian-American breakout star.

@FloydMayweather
Floyd Mayweather

Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise.

February 13, 2012 9:24 pm via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

Mayweather, who will begin a 90-day jail sentence on June 1 for a domestic violence case, has drawn criticism for injecting race into conflicts previously. Back in 2010, he went on a racist and homophobic rant about boxer Manny Pacquiao on USTREAM.

Mayweather isn't alone in igniting controversies involving Jeremy Lin on Twitter. Following Lin's phenomenal performance against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, in which he out-scored Kobe Bryant with 38 points, Jason Whitlock of FOX Sports drew widespread criticism for a tweet alluding to a racist stereotype about Asian men.

@WhitlockJason
Jason Whitlock

Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.

February 11, 2012 3:52 am via Echofon Reply Retweet Favorite

After the Asian American Journalists Association called for an apology from Whitlock, he delivered one on Sunday.

I get Linsanity. I've cried watching Tiger Woods win a major golf championship. Jeremy Lin, for now, is the Tiger Woods of the NBA. I suspect Lin makes Asian Americans feel the way I feel when I watch Tiger play golf.

I should've realized that Friday night when I watched Lin torch the Lakers. For Asian Americans and a lot of sports fans, his nationally televised 38-point outburst was the equivalent of Tiger's first victory in The Masters. I got caught up in the excitement. I tweeted about what a great story Lin is and how he could rival Tim Tebow.

I then gave in to another part of my personality -- my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. It's been with me since birth, a gift from my mother and honed as a child listening to my godmother's Richard Pryor albums. I still want to be a standup comedian.

The couple-inches-of-pain tweet overshadowed my sincere celebration of Lin's performance and the irony that the stereotype applies to pot-bellied, overweight male sports writers, too. As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I'm truly sorry.

Comments

[paulyao05]

12:47 AM on 02/23/2012

FLOYD IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BEST THEN FIGHT THE BEST AND SET ASIDE YOUR OWN RULES, FIGHT MANNY PACQUIAO WITHOUT YOUR CONDITIONS. LET ALL CONDITIONS MUST BE HANDLED BY AMERICAN BOXING SPORTS COMMISSIONS. SEE THE PERSONS WHO SHOUTED YOU TO SHUT UP!

DON'T TELL THE WORLD WHO YOU ARE; SHOW THE WORLD WHO YOU ARE AND FIGHT THE BEST BOXER IN THE WORLD.

UFC president Dana White calls Floyd Mayweather Jr. a racist and urges him to fight Manny Pacquiao
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/boxing/ufc-president-dana-white-calls-floyd-mayweather-jr-060407975.html

[choochabella]

12:09 PM on 02/21/2012

Mayweather is an abuser! And now he's proven he's a racist. Boycott his fights now and forever.

[choochabella]

12:05 PM on 02/21/2012

Amazing how these idiot athletes can be threatened by someone they don't understand...

[LazyLizard88]

03:23 AM on 02/18/2012

Seriously, Floyd? You just had to inject the whole racial thing, didn't you? I do like the fact that you had the guts to say what other hypocritical racists would be afraid to do so. Typical Floyd.

[frankcaprafan]

08:11 AM on 02/17/2012

Hey Jason, don't drink and tweet.

[frankcaprafan]

08:07 AM on 02/17/2012

I wonder if Floyd will be tweeting from his jail cell.

[toughlove]

03:35 AM on 02/17/2012

“Floyd Mayweather: Jeremy Lin Hyped Up Because He's Asian “ That quote sounds like the white basketball players when the first blacks were introduced to the all white game. African Americans seem a little threaten by the astounding skills of Lin. Yes Mr. Mayweather African Americas aren’t the only ones who can play the game.

[TommyMcCarthy]

01:30 AM on 02/17/2012

Moderators:
Comment Stuck "pending" for quite some time.
Please post or scrub...as time permits
Thnx
tm

[eric9002]

12:32 AM on 02/17/2012

please stop ganging up on floyd jr. blame sr. for dropping jr. on his head when he was young...he does not represent the black community. BOYCOTT his FIGHTS and he'll get the message.

[motoGpifupleez]

11:00 PM on 02/16/2012

You mean Floyd came out of the hole he's hiding in to avoid Manny to mouthfart out some comment he thinks passes for intellect? Too bad for him so many Black NBA players don't agree with him.

[Alec Volkman]

10:41 PM on 02/16/2012

For once I agree with Floyd.

[rcurton]

02:49 PM on 02/16/2012

It's not about race,it's about how a guy who was sleeping on a couch made it big.Oh and it doesn't hurt that he can speak with intelligence.Fans are tired of athletes speaking on tv and can't put a full sentence together.

[OH canada]

10:40 AM on 02/16/2012

I would like to applaud the media for trying to incite hatred between two minority groups here, well played because we all know the sheep will fall into the trap. Jeremy is a stellar young man and has been a joy to watch. i picked him up on my fantasy team after his first game and been watching every game he's played. I don't care about his color, ethnicity or anything else for that matter. He's enjoyable to watch and let's not forget he's got the knicks winning 7 in a row now. Everyone else is trying to make some money, get publicity whether it be positive or negative etc etc. So before we start inciting hate we should congratulate the young man on his accomplishments

[MissDarla]

12:52 PM on 02/16/2012

The media is not "inciting" the hatred between two minority groups -- it's already there -- many people are making similar comments about Lin and Asians. The media is simply reporting it. If you feel called out, that's about you!

[Hard2kill]

10:17 AM on 02/16/2012

And I don't understand why both commens came from 2 black people..

[choochabella]

12:04 PM on 02/21/2012

Are you kidding? Only the most racist of groups.

[ramman]

09:57 AM on 02/16/2012

There is something about a true statement that gets people in an uproar here on HP. The truth is a funny thing as it sits out there for all to see waiting on how one will except it and shows ones true character in how they respond to it. This very statement was once true for blacks also and still is as they made leaps and bounds in the pro leagues they had finally got into. This statement simply says there is money to be made from a particular race of people as owners and businesses lick their chops to see how to market this. Being that Floyd pretty much does this himself cutting out the middle man, he would know. The sad thing is when a statement is made like this out of haterism and tries to knock down the fact that this player Lin has the goods, the skills to pay the bills. There is nothing wrong with people getting excited about people who look like them when they make it big, it all good.

[montanasian]

10:37 AM on 02/16/2012

Ramman but you know there is a couple variables here why he (Mayweather) decided to outburst at this point. Why now!? Lets perhaps look at Mayweathers racist comments at Pacman on Sept 2, 2010 as an example. Now is that reinforced by the tensions between the black and asian community? Perhaps but his reasoning for making a point of that the blacks aren't getting their due because another minority is getting unduly is just a thinly reinforced stereotype statement for whatever his reasons. You can come with all sorts of reasons-the Nazi did so in an intelligent and seemingly logical manner in their propagand to kill the jews.
That was a stretch to make a point. Jimmy the Greek made his plausible statement, but did it make it any less offensive?
Getting off track---Floyd probably said what he said because of his involvement with the black community that reinforces the tensions with the asians, he wont fight Pac man so he makes his racist comments, and then he feel slighted by the whiteman.
I get it. It is too bad that he needs to reach for his level of the lowest common denominator, it just shows where he is personally.
Ramman, goodluck.

[ramman]

11:54 AM on 02/16/2012

I here you and must admit Floyd does appear to have some haterism here as you read on in the article. He probably lost money on this game because of Lin and is pissed since he always betting on these games or he just straight up racist himself. But I must say this Pac-Man and Floyd were suppose to fight this spring but Pac Man himself turned the fight down and later excepted to get in the ring Timothy Bradley at a later date and that doesn't look good for the Pac fans who claim Floyd is prohibiting the fight from happening because there was clearly an opportunity to make it happen.