National Basketball Association

Minnesota legislator criticized for NBA tweet

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minnesota legislator's tweet about the NBA has prompted hundreds of responses, with many on social media calling it racist.

State Rep. Pat Garofalo sent a tweet Sunday that read: ''Let's be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime.''

The Star Tribune reports that when asked about the tweet, the Farmington Republican said he was ''talking about NBA's high arrest rate and that they are the only major pro league that testing positive for marijuana is not a substance abuse violation.''

Garofalo added: ''No intent beyond that.''

Within two hours of his tweet, more than 600 people retweeted it and hundreds more responded. Many called the comment he made in the tweet racist.

As you can imagine, there was no shortage of reactions.

@PatGarofalo the racial and racist undertones in this comment is beyond alarming.
— Ryan Vernosh (@RyanVernosh) March 9, 2014

@PatGarofalo there's more criminals in your profession than the nba buddy.
— B-ball Jenky (@BBallJenky) March 9, 2014

Congrats @PatGarofalo! Tough to show you know nothing about hoops, are racist AND kill your career in 140 characters. http://t.co/DSxklDSzjY
— John Henson (@John_Henson) March 10, 2014

And if you look back through Garofalo's timeline, you'll find plenty of anti-NBA sentiment.

Or maybe this is really just an anti-Miami Heat thing?

In the history of the NBA Finals no team had lost a 3-1 lead in the series. Until now. #HeadlineIWantToSee #HateTheHeat
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) June 21, 2012