{"id":1577119,"date":"2023-09-15T17:53:56","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T21:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1577119"},"modified":"2023-09-15T17:53:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T21:53:56","slug":"unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfortunately, the Racial Slurs and Horrific Comments Hurled at Vikings RB Alexander Mattison are Nothing New"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There's no real harm in booing a player or a team when they don't produce. It's been going on for years, and it's a mild way of voicing displeasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Booing has turned into verbal attacks and even death threats. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/minnesota-vikings\">Minnesota Vikings<\/a> running back Alexander Mattison was on the receiving end of several racial slurs after Thursday night's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. While the comments made to Mattison were racist, ugly, and hurtful, they weren't anything new to NFL players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-alexander-mattison-incident-triggers-memories-of-what-former-packers-te-brandon-bostick-went-through-in-2015\">The Alexander Mattison incident triggers memories of what former Packers TE Brandon Bostick went through in 2015<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Alexander Mattison responds to the racist messages he received after last night&#39;s game. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/I1ur4lnWbx\">pic.twitter.com\/I1ur4lnWbx<\/a><\/p>&mdash; theScore (@theScore) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theScore\/status\/1702782461984342172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander Mattison will likely admit he didn't have the greatest game Thursday night in a 34-28 loss to the Eagles. He rushed for 28 yards and lost a fumble. For some Fantasy Football fools, that was enough to warrant racial attacks and more hurtful comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mattison isn't the first, nor will he be the last, professional athlete to endure hateful comments from social media punks. Former <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/green-bay-packers\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> tight end <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/death-threats-depression-haunted-former-green-bay-packers-te-brandon-bostick-since-botched-onside-kick\/\">Brandon Bostick botched an onside kick<\/a> in 2015 that would have sealed a victory and sent his team to the Super Bowl. Like Mattison, Bostick was the victim of scores of racial slurs and death threats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was all negativity,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/former-packers-te-brandon-bostick-said-the-play-led-to-his-depression-diagnosis-and-now-hes-determined-to-help-others\/\">Bostick told Sports7<\/a> in February 2022. \u201cRacist comments, death threats. It brought me to a dark place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bostick was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in 2020. Mental health was never something Bostick dealt with until \u201cafter that play in 2015.&#8221; Bostick said he was taking 15-20 pills a day to get by while seeing a therapist and psychologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting bombarded by racial comments and death threats does damage, and it doesn't matter who you are. Mattison responded to the haters on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alex_mattison22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a> story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Y'all can come at me all you want about fantasy and &#8216;you suck' blah blah blah,&#8221; he wrote.  &#8220;I really could care less. But this s*** is unacceptable. SMFH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I hope the 60+ people who decided to come at me with disgustingly disrespectful messages tonight in DMs and comments really reflect on WTF you say and how it could truly affect someone. Under my helmet, I am a human, a father, a son. This is sick. SMH.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-minnesota-vikings-nfl-respond-to-the-racial-comments-directed-at-mattison\">The Minnesota Vikings, NFL respond to the racial comments directed at Mattison<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We are sickened by the hatred and racial slurs directed toward Alexander Mattison following last night&#39;s game. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cdCRbxipr6\">pic.twitter.com\/cdCRbxipr6<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Vikings\/status\/1702751636928581945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 15, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bostick and Mattison are just two players of many players who have seen first-hand how far &#8220;fans&#8221; can go. In a statement from the Minnesota Vikings, the team said it is &#8220;sickened&#8221; by what happened Thursday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are sickened by the hatred and racial slurs directed toward Alexander Mattison following last night\u2019s game,\u201d the Vikings statement read. \u201cThere simply is no room for racist words or actions in sports or society. The Vikings will continue to fight to eliminate hate, to educate, and to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community that respects and values our unique backgrounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We stand with Alexander and all players who, unfortunately, experience this type of ignorant and prejudicial behavior, and we ask our fans to continue to fight to eliminate racism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The NFL also issued its own statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe NFL strongly condemns the racist comments directed towards Alexander Mattison online after last night\u2019s game,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;Such hateful behavior is completely unacceptable in the NFL or anywhere else. We stand firmly with Alexander and remind fans to remember the humanity of all players and celebrate their contributions to the game we all love.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Mattison went through what former Green Bay Packers tight end Brandon Bostick dealt with back in 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":1577125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4919,4963],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Unfortunately, the Racial Slurs and Horrific Comments Hurled at Vikings RB Alexander Mattison are Nothing New - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison had to deal with plenty of racial slurs and hurtful comments Thursday night.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unfortunately, the Racial Slurs and Horrific Comments Hurled at Vikings RB Alexander Mattison are Nothing New\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minnesota Vikings running back Alexander Mattison had to deal with plenty of racial slurs and hurtful comments Thursday night.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-15T21:53:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Alexander-Mattison-new.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"833\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Thomas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NostraThomas123\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/unfortunately-the-racial-slurs-and-horrific-comments-hurled-at-vikings-rb-alexander-mattison-are-nothing-new\/\",\"name\":\"Unfortunately, the Racial Slurs and Horrific Comments Hurled at Vikings RB Alexander Mattison are Nothing New - 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