Patrick Reusse responds to Twitter backlash that prompted account deletion
Reusse appeared on the Star Tribune's Daily Delivery with Michael Rand on Monday morning to recap the weekend's events, including what happened on Elon Musk's social media platform that prompted Reusse to delete his account entirely.
Reusse, who is a columnist for the Star Tribune and a regular guest on Twin Cities sports talk station SKOR North, posted the following during the Minnesota Golden Gophers' Big Ten Baseball opener on Friday:
"I'm at Zygidome to watch Gophers opener in Big Ten baseball. The guy or gal blasting that ******* monkey rap song could've made a quick $20 not to play if they had checked with me first. (Note: Yes, operators of The Zygi hate baseball, but the playing field looks OK.)"The reference to "monkey rap song" sparked immediate allegations of racism from some followers, though it quickly emerged that Reusse was referencing "Brass Monkey," the 1986 song by (white) rap group The Beastie Boys.
Reusse said on the podcast Monday he decided to delete his Twitter account because "he was sick of it."
"I'm sick of Twitter, I'm sick of people who read the one Twitter summary line and start commenting on a column even though the second [paragraph] says what they commented on," Reusse said, adding: "I'm not a big Elon Musk fan or Donald Trump fan."
Reusse previously issued a statement via Minnesota Vikings reporter Matthew Coller, who said Reusse's tweet was "taken totally wrongly by some folks online, so he got annoyed and deleted his account."
"I was at Gophers baseball game Friday. All alone in main press box at the Zygidome more than hour before game, with a rappy style song blaring that had many mentions of monkeys," Reusse said. "I couldn't stand this gawd-awful noise. I switched into my super senior wise-ass mode & send out a Tweet that had very clumsy wording for a guy who will have been a sports writer for 60 yrs.
"I didn't realize this until couple hrs later when noting a number of 'J—- Ch——, Reusse' responses. Even then, it took a while for me to figure out why the 'Racist!' accusations were flying."
He also described himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool lefty," highlighting the "mobs" who support Trump on the platform, and the "back-to-back Nazi salutes" by Twitter/X owner Elon Musk.
Reusse reiterated much of the same Monday morning, adding his he is now on BlueSky "where we can all get along now."
"You don't have to be mad at me on Twitter anymore because I won't be there," he told Rand.
The Star Tribune issued a statement following Reusse's post, clarifying that it wasn't "racial in intent."
You can listen to Reusse's appearance on Rand's podcast below.
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