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Former NFL player’s support for Jason Collins cost him a job

Leroy Butler's tweet in support of Jason Collins coming out resulted in the loss of a big church speaking gig.

 

Chase Hoffberger

Internet Culture

Posted on May 1, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 5:06 pm CDT

Former Green Bay Packers safety Leroy Butler woke up Monday morning excited to see that Jason Collins, a 12-year veteran of the NBA, had come out publicly as a gay man in America. 

Butler was so moved, in fact, that he jumped on Twitter to address his adulation. 

Harmless tweet, right? A message all sorts of professional athletes and public figures sent out on Monday. 

But Butler’s little tweet evidently carried big ramifications. He took to Twitter a day later to explain everything that went down.

“Wow, I was schedule[d] to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event,” he wrote. “I said ‘Ok, why?’ Then I was told [it was] because I said congrats to Jason Collins on Twitter.”

Collins added that the two parties had a contract but the church told him to “check the moral cause.”

“The fee was $8,500. I was told if I removed the tweet, and apologized[d] and ask God forgiveness, I can have the event,” he wrote. “I said no.” 

Image via Leroy Butler/Facebook

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*First Published: May 1, 2013, 11:18 am CDT