Akron’s Gus Johnson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. That’s a big deal, considering Johnson, who went to Idaho and starred for the Washington Bullets on teams that also included Wes Unseld and Earl Monroe, is something of a legend around Akron, and fellow Akron product LeBron James sent a tweet to congratulate him:
LeBron James Tweets ‘R.I.P. Gus Johnson,’ Internet Reacts Predictably
Also Congratulations to Akron’s very own Gus Johnson on being inducted on the HOF. Seen his pics as a kid around the city growing upThen, because Johnson passed away in 1987, James tweeted another message:
R.I.P. Gus JohnsonThis being the Internet, that may have been a mistake. Unsurprisingly, some saw the latter tweet without seeing the former and thought LeBron James was breaking the news that broadcaster Gus Johnson had died. That, in turn, sparked some confusion from people who missed the first tweet and/or assumed James was referring the still-breathing broadcaster.
That’s an amusing bit of farce as is, with those who were unaware of the context finding another reason to hate LeBron, but the funnier part is that the Heat’s new villain was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t; even the first tweet, without any word about whether Johnson was alive, opened up James for criticism. (And someone else took James’ lauding of Johnson and tried to turn it into a teachable moment.)
But, because of the goldfish-esque attention span of the Internet, I don’t think LeBron has much fallout to worry about going forward. Most of the “Gus Johnson” mentions on Twitter right now are from people explaining to Chad Ochocinco why he’s being called Esteban in Madden 11.
