Bradley Patterson, a football player for the University of North Alabama, was kicked off the team after he tweeted a message containing a racial slur about President Barack Obama on Sunday, WAFF reported.
Patterson sent the tweet after NBC pre-empted Sunday Night Football to show Obama's speech at the Newtown memorial for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were murdered by a gunman who then took his own life.
"Take that n***** off the tv, we wanna watch football!" Patterson, whose Twitter account has since been removed, tweeted. Deadspin gathered similar Twitter reactions to the broadcast interruption, calling their authors "idiots."
UNA Athletic Director Mark Linder quickly responded, announcing on his Twitter account that the university did not condone Patterson's tweet, and that he was "no longer a member of the team."
Patterson, a walk-on long snapper, had joined the team four weeks into the season, according to the Birmingham News.
This isn't the first time that reckless tweeting has gotten an athlete in trouble.
During the 2012 London Olympics, Greece expelled triple jumper Voula Papachristou after she mocked African immigrants on her Twitter account.
In June, the NBA fined New York Knicks star Amare Stoudemire $50,000 after he tweeted a gay slur in a direct message to a fan.