Professional wrestler Randy Orton was trending on Twitter Saturday when he reacted to George Floyd‘s murder while in police custody. There have been several protests following the incident, and Orton wanted to show support. Although this did lead to some disagreements on Twitter.
Orton sent multiple tweets in support of the protests and in pursuit of justice for Floyd. He asked his fans and followers to sign a petition on Change.org, and tweeted the hashtag, “BlackLivesMatter.” However, there was one individual that responded to the professional wrestler with criticism. This person disagreed with Orton’s approach to the ongoing protests.
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“Stop spreading hate and segregation. Try unity and working together. PEOPLE need to change. Not ‘something’ needs to change. All lives matter,” one user wrote in response to Orton. The professional wrestler responded by clarifying his point.
“All lives DO matter, but the point I was trying to make is that I finally realized that until #BlackLivesMatters, they can’t. Get it?” Orton responded. Several other Twitter users agreed with this comment and voiced their support.
Not everyone appreciated Orton’s comments, however, considering that some brought up a situation where he used a racial slur during a Twitch stream. Orton was streaming “Call of Duty” on his channel in 2019 when he said, “bam, n—.” Twitch deleted video of the stream due to the language, but it later surfaced on Twitter.
“Randy Orton…..I still haven’t forgot you said the ‘N’ word…..” one person commented on Twitter. Several others joined in and agreed with this sentiment. Although some came to Orton’s defense and said that he has “rehabbed.”
While some had comments about Orton’s past transgressions, others were happy to see him showing support. He is one of many WWE stars that have weighed in since Floyd’s death and called for changes to be made. He joined Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey and many others posting messages on Twitter and Instagram.
“I’m literally sitting in my car looking at pictures of me and my sons and just came to tears. As a black father this s— is frustrating, hurtful, Scary, etc, I’ve been able to teach my kids a lot about life but I’m not equipped to teach or tell my kids or other black and brown kids on how to deal with Type of s— OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I doubt very seriously that my Friends, Coworkers, business partners, etc that don’t look like me have EVER had to think about half the stuff I do as a Black Parent trying to Raise two Black Men in this country,” Titus Oneil wrote on Instagram.
“I doubt they’ve ever had to Have ‘The Talk’ with their children, I doubt they’ll ever Have to tell their children how beautiful and Amazing they are as much as I tell mine, I doubt they’ll have to wonder if their kids will be okay with driving their cars outside of getting into an accident, I doubt they have to go shopping for Body cameras to install in their kids vehicles, I have a lot of doubts, Concerns, Anger, Frustration and Questions….WHAT I DON’T have is ANSWERS and That’s where many Black and Brown people are at today and have been for years. I can’t explain to them that the outrage people have for hurting Dogs and Animals is deafening, yet the outrage for Killing Black Men and women with A Law enforcement Uniform on seems to be addressed as business as usual. I don’t feel like a SuperHero, I don’t have any answers and I do feel hopeless in this situation.”
