And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don’t use sites like Facebook if you’re in the public eye; people might learn how you really think and not like it. Case in point: Texas Longhorns sophomore offensive lineman Buck Burnette just got booted from the team after posting a Facebook update that was just a tad bit racist.
(Bad Buck, pictured on the right, won out this time.)
Following Barack Obama’s election Tuesday night, Burnette signed onto the networking site to air his many grievances about the state of our country and posted the following as his update:
“all the hunters gather up, we have a #$%&er in the whitehouse”
Forget for a moment about horrible grammar (those of us who are Facebook-inclined know the final result would read something like “Buck is all the hunter gather up …”), but the whole “hunters lynching a black man” motif alone was enough to get him kicked off the team for a “violation of team rules”.
As you can imagine, Buck had already issued his apology.
THE WORLD OF ISAAC has Buck’s formal apology:
Clearly I have made a mistake and apologized for it and will pay for it. I received it as a text message from an acquaintance and immaturely put it up on facebook in the light of the election. Im not racist and apologize for offending you. I grew up on a ranch in a small town where that was a real thing and I need to grow up. I sincerely am sorry for being ignorant in thinking that it would be ok to write that publicly and apologize to you in particular. I have to be more mature than to put the reputation of my team at stake and to spread that kind of hate which I dont even believe in. Once again, I sincerely apologize.
Seems sincere enough, but him getting kicked off the team is probably for the best. Not only can Burnette be made an example of, letting the rest of the redneck contingent on college football teams know that general racism isn’t going to be tolerated, but let’s be honest, the dude was a backup center. His future was not in football. No time to start cracking those books like the present.
5:23 pm on November 6th, 2008
So Freedom Of Speech Is The First To Go?
5:26 pm on November 6th, 2008
Did it occur to young Buck that he has an awful lot of African-American teammates who wouldn't take so kindly to such hateful threats?
5:28 pm on November 6th, 2008
With a name like Buck Burnette, what do you expect?
5:30 pm on November 6th, 2008
I'm surprised he didn't also include the words "traitor" and "arab".
5:31 pm on November 6th, 2008
I'm proud to be a Longhorn, but I'm very embarrassed by this jackass.
5:34 pm on November 6th, 2008
Those who would defend this guy's racist comments as free speech are the same people who want to silence the same free speech rights of other groups like gay rights or anti-war activists.
5:35 pm on November 6th, 2008
Racism in Texas? I am shocked.
5:36 pm on November 6th, 2008
This would make for a fine "very special episode" of Friday Night Lights.
5:37 pm on November 6th, 2008
The guy does have a right to speak his mind, no matter how stupid, idiotic and ignorant his comments are.
5:39 pm on November 6th, 2008
What's he all pissed off about? McCain did carry Texas.
6:00 pm on November 6th, 2008
Too bad Buck was bucked from the team. I'm sure a good number of teammates would have loved to have him back at practice - to use as a tackling dummy or blocking sled.
6:03 pm on November 6th, 2008
Sure this guy has the right to speak his mind. And Mack Brown has the right to kick this guy off the Texas football team.
6:06 pm on November 6th, 2008
This isn't a matter of free speech, it's a matter of hate speech.
6:10 pm on November 6th, 2008
This kind of intolerant behavior should never be tolerated.
F**king redneck.
6:13 pm on November 6th, 2008
This sophomore offensive lineman really is sophomoric and offensive.
6:17 pm on November 6th, 2008
If he's smart enough to use Facebook, you'd think he'd be smart enough not to publicly publish such racist comments.
6:19 pm on November 6th, 2008
If he was the starting center instead of the backup center, would he have been kicked off the team?
6:20 pm on November 6th, 2008
As much as I think what he said was horrible, it's not surprising, given his upbringing in rural Texas. I hope he learns that this kind of thing ain't OK, but I also hope he gets another chance to play at a different school.
6:23 pm on November 6th, 2008
This makes me even happier that Texas Tech beat the Longhorns last weekend.
6:45 pm on November 6th, 2008
Secho:
Maybe an SEC school will take him.
6:53 pm on November 6th, 2008
Secho:
How about Texas Southern? Or Prairie View A&M? Or some other historically black college?
7:16 pm on November 6th, 2008
Good to see he's putting that quality University of Texas education to good use.
7:20 pm on November 6th, 2008
How about making Buck clean up Bevo's crap for the rest of the season.
7:22 pm on November 6th, 2008
If he's not racist and doesn't believe in that kind of hate, then why did he post that stupid sh*t in the first place?
7:28 pm on November 6th, 2008
I wouldn't say that's a tad bit racist. I'd say that's a whole heaping helpful of hate.
7:41 pm on November 6th, 2008
Why should this poor kid take so much grief for one small sentence? He apologized for it. Kicking him off the team is too much.
9:01 pm on November 6th, 2008
The kid did one dumb mistake. But it tutned out to be a doozy.
9:39 pm on November 6th, 2008
Buck Burnette has my vote.
1:22 am on November 7th, 2008
[but the whole “hunters lynching a black man” motif alone was enough to get him kicked off the team]
I'd say the use of the N-word alone should be enough to kick his ass off the team.
8:49 am on November 7th, 2008
Free speech…..He is not in jail, he was not arrested, he is not on house arrest………..
But Mack Brown has the right to kick him off the team because of his comments. Go tell your boss that he sucks and that his wife is a slut…you won't be thrown in jail but you better get your resume updated.
1:22 pm on November 7th, 2008
In Austin, Texas there's lots of black people so brilliant comment, moron.
12:29 pm on November 8th, 2008
He forgets that he has his Texas boy Bush to thank.. moron.