Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall has confounded some and angered others with his controversial Tweets about the death of Osama bin Laden. The 23-year-old NFL player apparently was not pleased with the mass celebrations of bin Laden’s killing that broke out across the country on Sunday night.
“What kind of person celebrates death?” Mendenhall posted on his Twitter feed after President Barack Obama announded the death of Osama bin Laden and celebrations broke out across the country in response. “It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…”
If that wasn’t enough to rile up half the country against Mendenhall, he went on to share his doubts that the World Trade Center was not brought down by terrorist controlled airplanes at all.
“We’ll never know what really happened,” Mendenhall said. “I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.” The Tweet was in responsoe to a Tweet by Illinois basketball player Dominique Keller, who basically said he was not convinced Osama bin Laden was behind the 9/11 attacks, according to LarryBrownSports.com.
Steelers President Art Rooney II posted a response statement on the team’s website. “I have not spoken with Rashard so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments,†Rooney said. “The entire Steelers’ organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon.â€
