WNBA guard Pondexter on Japanese earthquake victims: ‘They did Pearl Harbor so you can’t expect anything less’
Mar 14, 2011, 3:31 PM EDT
As you may have heard, New York Liberty guard Cappie Pondexter watched the devastation in Japan over the weekend, and decided that it would be a good time to send out these festive thoughts on her Twitter account:
“What if God was tired of the way they treated their own people in there own country! Idk guys he makes no mistakes.”
“u just never knw! They did pearl harbor so u can’t expect anything less.”
From ESPN:
Pondexter also used the racially derogatory term “jap,” when referring to someone who was offended by her comments.
Pondexter apologized for the tweets this morning, which I’ll get into in a moment. But first, an Irony Alert. Pondexter grew up in Chicago and played for Rutgers, graduating in 2006. And just one year later, as you may remember, Rutgers was in the middle of the big Don Imus “Nappy-headed hos” controversy. CBS fired Imus from his radio gig over the racially-insensitive remarks leveled at the Rutgers women’s basketball team, and MSNBC followed suit by ending his simulcast.
Pondexter had just left that team, and still had friends there. The Scarlet Knights were roundly praised for the class in which they handled the whole Imus situation. Surely Pondexter was watching all that.
It just makes her comments even more baffling. Surely she knew what words can do … especially in the media. Even if that is the social media.
Look, we knew an apology was coming … it’s the same old script. And right on cue on Monday morning, the apology tweets began appearing. (ESPN has condensed them).
“I wanna apologize to anyone I may hurt or offended during this tragic time,” Pondexter tweeted. “I didn’t realize that my words could be interpreted in the manner which they were. People that knw me would tell u 1st hand I’m a very spiritual person and believe that everything, even disasters happen 4 a reason and that God will shouldn’t be questioned but this is a very sensitive subject at a very tragic time and I shouldn’t even have given a reason for the choice of words I used.
“The least thing I wanted was to hurt or offend anyone so again I truly apologize. If you’ve lost respect for me that’s totally fine but please don’t let me or my words lose the respect of u the WNBA and what it stands for.
“I’m very strong woman evn strong enough 2 admit an apologize when I’m wrong. Twitter is a voice and wth tht I wanna apologize again.”
Look, it’s not like she wrote “dessert” when she meant “desert.” She obviously thinks this way. I have a very hard time believing that on Saturday, Pondexter thought that the earthquake and tsunami was God’s way of punishing “the Japs” for past transgressions, and today she’s changed her mind entirely and is no longer a racist. Not buying it. How do you take back a statement like that? I mean, besides deleting the tweets?
The WNBA, not exactly rolling in surplus attendance and revenue, could not have been happy with Pondexter’s fit of Twitter Tourette’s. Thus, the apology. Which is why it’s not worth the electrons it rode in on.
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Cappie Pondexter sorry for tweets [ESPN]
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- toosano - Mar 14, 2011 at 8:22 PM
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What a friggin’ loser. This woman child graduated from college? She can’t spell, write and form a thought, even when apologizing. Just the lowest of life.
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- toosano - Mar 15, 2011 at 5:04 PM
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I see Pondexter’s two friends gave my comment a thumbs down, lol.
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- joerevs300 - Mar 14, 2011 at 8:37 PM
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Unbelievable. If the team had any class they would release her immediately.
I suppose if something like that happened to the US she’d be happy with saying (those that were against it) that we got what we deserved for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Put her over there for 48 hours, and I bet she changes her tune real quick.
Unless she thinks over 10,000 deaths is just desserts for something that happened 65+ years ago.
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- samsam1450 - Mar 14, 2011 at 11:50 PM
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OMG how did she get through HS let alone college…this girl is dumb as dirt and has ignorance to spare.
The WNBA should be so proud.
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- BC - Mar 15, 2011 at 1:44 PM
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She’s a Rhodes Scholar for sure.
Idiot. Chipwich. Would love it if her team cut her. People have been fired for much less. Dummy.
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- nocomment2011 - Mar 16, 2011 at 4:14 PM
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I’M A THIRD GENERATION JAPANESE AMERICAN WHOSE FAMILY MEMBERS WERE SENT TO CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN AMERICA DURING WORLD WAR II. MY PARENTS WERE NATIVE BORN AMERICANS AND THEY WERE SENT TO CAMPS ALONG WITH MY GRANDPARENTS. THE SAME RACIST CRAP THAT SHE SPOUTED WAS USED AS A REASON TO TAKE AWAY THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS LIKE MY PARENTS AND THROW THEM INTO CAMPS. IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE. HER COMMENTS WERE RACIST, INSENSITIVE, AND DOWNRIGHT IGNORANT
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- kkkgrammarnazitroll - Mar 18, 2011 at 9:37 PM
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you know what? America got back at Japan by dropping not one but TWO Atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. I think we’re pretty even. Bringing religion adds insult to injury.
