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[ISOM]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sportswriter-tweets-japanese-indy-500-winner-makes-him-uncomfortable-n765826

A Denver sportswriter is out of his job after triggering an onslaught of criticism for tweeting that a Japanese driver winning Sunday's Indianapolis 500 made him "uncomfortable."

Terry Frei, a sports reporter for the Denver Post, sent the questionable tweet shortly after Japanese race car driver Takuma Sato hailed victory in the illustrious Indy 500.

"Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend," he wrote.

The tweet immediately evoked a firestorm of criticism on social media.

 

[Teknopathetic]

And of course he doubled down on that shit.

 

[Escape Goat]

Trump tweet or journalist? Guess right and win a prize!

 

[OriginofHysteria]

Why. Why do you double down.

 

[Permanently A]

"I'm not racist because my dad's friends died fighting the Japanese in World War 2"

alright dude

 

[wandering]

"Pearl harbor clutching"

Haha

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

Is he Roger Sterling?

 

[Plum]

The Indy 500 is Pearl Harbor 2.0! Wake up, people!

Spoiler

How can someone possibly be this stupid?

 

[Akainu]

Don't get a ticket racing to the unemployment office.

 

[Volimar]

Saw this as it was happening on Twitter. He deleted the tweet but the internet was too fast for him. Now he's looking for a new job. Dumbass.

 

[Aiii]

This dumb fuck. When patriotism goes wrong.

 

[Machina]

Back to the '40s with your sorry ass

 

[Grizzlyjin]

HAHAHA at that double down. They always double down. Always. The sad thing is that if it was just a bad joke, he might've kept his job. Just say it was in poor taste and move on. But it wasn't even a joke, this dude genuinely seems uncomfortable with the idea of a Japanese person winning on Memorial Day. You're hanging onto to WWII beef, dude? Really?

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

hope he feels uncomfortable about america basically fixing japan after we beat them

 

[Alucrid]

at least people uncomfortable with japanese in america just make tweets about it now instead of throwing them in camps

 

[Aiii]

HAHAHA at that double down. They always double down. Always. The sad thing is that if it was just a bad joke, he might've kept his job. Just say it was in poor taste and move on. But it wasn't even a joke, this dude genuinely seems uncomfortable with the idea of a Japanese person winning on Memorial Day. You're hanging onto to WWII beef, dude? Really?

Maybe he was uncomfortable because he remembered how his grandparents helped round up the Japanese Americans and put them in internment camps. He only had 140 characters after all. He could have spun that if he hadn't doubled down.

 

[Ran rp]

Why. Why do you double down.

nobody wants to admit they're wrong

 

[CaviarMeths]

Goddamn, what a thing to choose to be the hill you die on. My dad's friend was killed in a war 70 years ago, can't trust them Japanese!

Also watch out for them shifty Ottoman Turk fellas, and the Mongols.

 

[Seesaw15]

at least people uncomfortable with japanese in america just make tweets about it now instead of throwing them in camps

*Knock on wood*

 

[massoluk]

One could celebrate the event as how descendents of two nations that we're at war 72 years ago can come together to compete in the race. But he chose racism.

 

[Saya]

What a dumbass. He says nothing personal, but then makes it extremely personal in his apology.

What does he think of Sebastian Vettel, a German, winning the Monaco Grand Prix on Memorial Day weekend?

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

That Japanese driver didn't kill your dad's friend so that's a shit-for-brains argument.
Generalization and racism often go hand in hand and is unhealthy.

 

[paperboywriter]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable? I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

 

[Tommy DJ]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable?

Because a Japanese man (so not white) won an American racing car event.

 

[Cels]

so this writer's dad's friends died in WW2 fighting the japanese so he hates that a japanese man won the indy 500, which is always held during memorial day weekend

is there any non-racist way to spin this

 

[Forkball]

I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

Have you ever heard of Asia?

 

[John_B]

How much of a piece of shit is this guy? Even Hitler shook hands with Jesse Owens.

 

[ultracal31]

so this writer's dad's friends died in WW2 fighting the japanese so he hates that a japanese man won the indy 500, which is always held during memorial day weekend

is there any non-racist way to spin this

Well he could have tried the 'I have asian friends' route

 

[Sayad]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable?

 

[Spinoff90]

What does he think of Sebastian Vettel, a German, winning the Monaco Grand Prix on Memorial Day weekend?

In an Italian car at that. Wonder how uncomfortable his name makes him considering...

The Frei surname comes from the Middle High German word "vri," meaning "free," and as a name, it referred to a free man, as opposed to a bondsman or serf in the feudal system.

 

[Akainu]

Have you ever heard of Asia?

Seriously.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

HAHAHA at that double down. They always double down. Always. The sad thing is that if it was just a bad joke, he might've kept his job. Just say it was in poor taste and move on. But it wasn't even a joke, this dude genuinely seems uncomfortable with the idea of a Japanese person winning on Memorial Day. You're hanging onto to WWII beef, dude? Really?

The nukes made a hole in his heart. Poor sportswriter, with such precious opinion about touchdowns and hail marys.

 

[LotusHD]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable? I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

Hmmmmm...

 

[Volimar]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable? I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

Let me tell you about the war between the states.

 

[Korey]

Isn't it weird how some otherwise normal, professional people have some horrific lack of judgement?

Like, you have your little racist thought, you type it into your phone or whatever...before you press TWEET you should stop and think to yourself "should I post this?"

Dumbass.

 

[.JayZii]

Time to start a Patreon.

 

[eggandI]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable? I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

The same reason it makes a lot of white middle class parents deeply uncomfortable when Asian kids start getting all the best grades in schools

 

[Discotheque]

lol even his picture displays his unease

 

[Psychoward]

lol even his picture displays his unease

Backup Roger Goodell

 

[paperboywriter]

The same reason it makes a lot of white middle class parents deeply uncomfortable when Asian kids start getting all the best grades in schools

yeah but isn't this story specifically a WW2 thing? I might be missing something here. Well in any case he is an ass for complaining about a Japanese/ asian guy winning some sporting event.

 

[mclem]

lol even his picture displays his unease

"And here's what Conan O'Brien would look like if he had a square head"

 

[kottila]

i dont get it. why is that making someone uncomfortable? I feel like people in the US take way longer to get over some historical feuds with there neighbors or people of other races. get over it already, it's been 70 years

Have you ever heard of the Balkans? They're still bitter over things that happened 700years ago

 

[danm999]

yeah but isn't this story specifically a WW2 thing? I might be missing something here. Well in any case he is an ass for complaining about a Japanese/ asian guy winning some sporting event.

Well his reasoning seems to be it's Memorial Day weekend when the United States honours its fallen servicemen and the United States once fought Japan.

Although logically his antipathy would have to extend to Germans, Italians, Austrians, Turkish, Koreans, Vietnamese, Iraqis, Spaniards, Afghanis, Libyans, Canadians, Britons...

And I guess because of the Civil War Americans..?

 

[Usobuko]

He and people who agreed with him need to git gud before whinning about outsiders winning the race.

Outsiders as in those they deemed to be different than them.

 

[Unhandled Exception]

Frei is a terrible sports writer in general, and learning that he's also a terrible person doesn't really come as a shock at this point.

As an aside, the Denver Post has had terrible sports writing for decades now. Adrian Dater (a former coworker of Frei's) got fired for getting wasted and propositioning and harrassing women he worked with, met from work, or women he thought he could use his work as leverage with in twitter DMs. He is a father and was married at the time, unsure if that has changed.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Is he Roger Sterling?

I lol'd.

"Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend,"

"THIS is what Memorial Day is about. Dave Schreiner's death in Battle of Okinawa. Not for squeamish or 'sensitive.'"

I can't even handle the irony.

Can't. Even.

 

[Cerium]

I bet a German or Italian driver would've been perfectly acceptable though.

 

[The Kree]

We dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They won the Indy 500. Can't we just call it even and be friends? Sheesh.

 

[keuja]

Well hopefully being jobless doesn't make him even more uncomfortable.

 

[Vagabundo]

Snowflake Generation.