News that shocked the Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA on Tuesday night also had a Miami Heat tie-in.
The Ringer's Ben Detrick on Tuesday wrote an in-depth piece claiming that 76ers president of basketball operations and general manager Bryan Colangelo created a handful of fake Twitter accounts that he used to criticize players and league executives, among other accusations.
Deep into the story, Detrick wrote that one of the fake accounts — Twitter handle @A1Vic40117560 and account name "Eric jr" — took a shot at the Heat's Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union for something that reportedly happened during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The excerpt in question:
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"In two responses to a February 2017 tweet from actress Gabrielle Union, who pointed out that Tom Brady didn’t visit the White House when Barack Obama was president, Eric jr went on the attack. 'I sat NEXT to you and [Dwyane Wade] at Beijing Olympics and saw you both being rude nasty to little kid fan,' the account said. 'Had to eat yr pizza. … You showed no respect to this little kid, who are you to stand on high grounds? Never looked at DW the same after that.' During the 2008 Olympics, Jerry Colangelo, then the managing director of the U.S. men’s national basketball team, was in Beijing. "
Wade and Union were both quick to dispel the accusation.
crossOrigin="anonymous" SHARE COPY LINK Pat Riley, President of the Miami Heat, will not talk about Dwyane Wade's retirement and he also has no plans to retire. Charles Trainor Jr
"I guess all black people do look alike," Wade wrote on Twitter, "because @itsgabrielleu wasn't at the Olympic in 08. Clearly Eric Jr lied."
I guess all black people do look alike because @itsgabrielleu wasn’t at the Olympic in 08. Clearly Eric Jr lied https://t.co/Ofo48glcSw — DWade (@DwyaneWade) May 30, 2018
Union's Twitter response: "Well ain't this interesting. I didnt go to the Beijing Olympics so whoever wrote the tweets created a whole rude celeb fantasy for a very specific reason, an attempt to discredit me for my tweets about athletes not wanting to go to the White House."
Well ain't this interesting. I didnt go to the Beijing Olympics so whoever wrote the tweets created a whole rude celeb fantasy for a very specific reason, an attempt to discredit me for my tweets about athletes not wanting to go to the White House https://t.co/OozdMUziPL — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) May 30, 2018
Union later referenced the 2017 tweet mentioned in the story with the comment, "This is the tweet that got old boy's panties in a bunch. Since he couldn't argue with facts he created a scenario where the black athlete & actress are ungrateful jerks to children. Nice try kiddo."