Royce White Continues to Clash with Media on Twitter

White isn’t exactly helping his case when he continues to fight with media on social media. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

For players that spark controversy, the best thing to do is stay of Twitter and keep away from public confrontations. The only thing it will lead to is putting that athlete in a worse situation. Alas, Royce White took to Twitter on Friday to confront a sports blogger.

Jill Munroe, author of “Jocks and Stiletto Jill,” gave her thoughts on White’s comment about saying “hell no” to flying 100 times with the Philadelphia 76ers in an article with USA Today. This sparked White to respond back with one of his hashtags on Twitter.

An argument then erupts between them, as Munroe wants White to point out where she has the quote wrong, and White denying Munroe an interview to get the facts straight. Neither person comes off well; White does his usual thing while Munroe touts her million views and how more important she is compared to the NBA player.

First off, Munroe does take White’s quote and takes the low-hanging fruit of simply bashing him and dismisses his other comments in her blog post. I get it, White hasn’t stepped on the court and said the same things when he was going to play for the Houston Rockets. I also understand where White is coming from with Munroe’s initial tweet. Bottom line, as journalists we need to send catchy headlines out to attract viewers, but Monroe should have been more careful because White does not say he isn’t ready to fly at all as her tweet implies.

In all honesty, it’s a post that White can simply avoid and move on. In fact, he can move on from everything the media says to him. What makes it all look terrible on his end is constantly tweeting at journalists in the media calling them irresponsible, then doesn’t offer to explain it and says that “people who seek the truth will find it.”

White is a unique individual, and Twitter is no place for unique individuals. He can try to be a spokesperson for mental health and get people to try and understand, but replying to dozens of bashes over social media and adding #BeWell at the end does nothing to improve trying to increase mental health awareness. It nearly cancels out all the good he tries to showcase on his Twitter account.

Twitter is White’s main enemy. Plenty of big name athletes like Arian Foster and Bryce Harper turned it off and find themselves less in the headlines. I strongly suggest White does the same and prove the naysayers wrong either on the court or creating better awareness.