Mark Haynes spoke ill of Stephen Curry, then Twitter investigated and discovered homophobic, sexist, and racist rants

In the age of social media, there are some things you just shouldn’t say aloud (or in writing), and certain celebrities and athletes you want to steer clear of when it comes to particular commentary. Golden State Warriors beat reporter Mark Haynes found this out the hard way Saturday night, after answering a question on Twitter about Stephen Curry’s “frontrunning” — celebrating well before the clock hit 0 — during Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

Once Haynes agreed with the notion that Curry was a frontrunner, his fate was basically sealed by Golden State’s minions. That seemingly harmless comment in which Haynes answered a fan’s question has turned into an avalanche of inappropriate tweets that cover homophobia, racial slander, sexism, and many other odd tweets that seem like they were meant to be jokes, but couldn’t have been less funny.

There aren’t too many people laughing at the “jokes” now, especially not Haynes, as he went and deleted his Twitter account once he realized his ass was in the hot seat. There’s something about certain guys named Mark associated with the Warriors that just don’t mix. Mark Jackson hasn’t had a tough time landing another NBA head coaching gig strictly because of “basketball philosophy.” Internet sleuths can wrestle with that one.

As a public figure, be careful of the hate you spew publicly. Even if it’s before you gain any small amount of notoriety. The comments Haynes posted over the years weren’t only hateful; they were ignorant and reckless.

Being a black man, I’m sure Haynes feels a certain way whenever the N-word is uttered by anyone who isn’t African American. Mark knows what it’s like to be judged because of his skin color or ethnic background. Yet he felt comfortable enough to use such hateful speech, but he thought it’d be funny to post them on Twitter. Now Haynes’ job will likely be in jeopardy over his ignorance.

What surprises me about this entire incident is how these tweets were up on Haynes’ page for so long without anyone noticing. Mark isn’t some big star reporter, but he is the brother of well-known NBA insider Chris Haynes. Some of Mark’s tweets go back to 2010. And to think this all came from him answering a question honestly during a Twitter spaces session. This was karma coming back to bite Mark in the ass. He’s obviously had a lot of hate filling his heart toward many different people for a long time.

When it comes to people digging up old tweets, that can be a slippery slope. But we keep seeing these incidents happen, and it just seems like no one is paying attention. We’re supposed to learn from the mistakes of those before us, but time after time, we see public figures posting insensitive comments on public platforms. It’s one thing to say these tweets were posted years ago, but the fact that they’re left up for the world to see shows everyone how you feel. Leave that kind of hate at home.

Now, because of Mark Haynes’ ignorance, Chris Haynes will probably catch some backlash just by association. This isn’t fair, especially if he hasn’t done or said anything wrong, but we know how social media gets down.