Mississippi State Football Coach Mike Leach Apologizes for 'Offensive' Quarantine Noose Tweet
"I had no intention of offending anyone," wrote the former Washington State football coach on Twitter
College football coach Mike Leach is apologizing for a now-deleted tweet.
On Thursday, Leach, 59, posted an apology on Twitter writing that he didn’t mean to offend anyone when he, according to Sports Illustrated, shared a meme that depicted a woman fashioning a noose for her husband.
The social media post was meant as a joke about self-isolating with family during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, commenting on raised tensions as people are cooped up together for weeks on end. “After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf,” Leach reportedly captioned the tweet.
“I sincerely regret if my choice of images in my tweets were found offensive. I had no intention of offending anyone,” he wrote after deleting the controversial tweet.
Leach was hired as head coach of Mississippi State’s football squad in January after leaving a coaching gig at Washington State, according to the Associated Press.
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This isn’t the first time his Twitter activity has gotten Leach into hot water. In June 2018, the coach posted a video of a 2014 speech given by Barack Obama that was doctored to misrepresent the then-president’s statements, according to the Seattle Times.
At the time, Washington State issued a statement to USA Today about the tweet — which Leach deleted and later posted the official full text of the Obama speech — saying that he is “entitled to his personal opinions.”
University officials, in November 2018, claimed Leach’s controversial tweet cost the school about $1.6 million from disapproving donors, the Seattle Times reported.
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