AJ McCarron’s mother, Dee Dee Bonner, and his girlfriend, Katherine Webb, were in some hot water after controversial Twitter activity in regards to Florida State’s 34-31 BCS National Championship Game victory over Auburn on January 6th. Following the win, star quarterback Jameis Winston gave a post-game interview that raised some eyebrows. The Hueytown, AL native, who speaks with a heavy accent, was in clear joy following his team’s victory and began to stutter and repeat himself during the interview directly after the game.
Bonner, whose son starred for the University of Alabama, posted a tweet asking, “am I listening to English?” from her official Twitter account @DeeDeeBonner. The tweet was quickly deleted, but user @PichieRalmer was able to take a screenshot of the tweet before it was taken down. McCarron’s girlfriend, Webb was also involved in some controversial Twitter action that night, as user @tonymanfred took a screenshot showing Webb’s official Twitter account @_KatherineWebb favoriting a Tweet that read, “Jameis Winston needs to learn sign language to communicate because listening to him attempt to speak English is just insulting.” The tweet has since been unfavorited by Webb.
Following the controversy and the calls of racism thrown her way, Bonner tweeted: “anyone that knows our family knows that we are far from racist. My tweet was not in anyway meant that way. I sincerely apologize if it offended anyone.” Webb claimed that the tweet was favorited accidentally, tweeting, “the idea that I am a racist is absolutely stupid and it needs to stop. I was scrolling through my timeline and that tweet was accidentally favorited,” before adding, “God loves all, so I love all.” Jameis Winston, who had not used his Twitter account @JabooWins throughout the season, responded to the controversy himself, tweeting the message: “for the people that criticize the way that I talk this is for y’all. The Florida state Seminoles are national champions! That is all.”
This isn’t the first time athletes and their families have acted inappropriately on social media. After the team decided to waive his brother Chris, New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith used his Instagram account to inform the world of how he felt. On December 30, 2013, Smith posted a photo addressing the team and the situation on the social media site that read: “you know the sad thing about betrayal? It never comes from an enemy.” Cleveland Browns receiver Davone Bess also found himself in trouble after some questionable social media activity. On January 16 Bess tweeted a photo with the caption, “we da real dons!” The photo showed Bess in possession of what appeared to be marijuana. The tweet has since been deleted, but Bess could possibly face action from the NFL.