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I’ve come across tweets from professional athletes before where I just shake my head and think to myself, “Does he not know that everyone can read this?” But the string of comments that Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall has left on his Twitter page over the past day about Osama bin Laden’s death take the cake.

What kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side…

We’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.

Someone must have gotten to Mendenhall because he actually deleted that second tweet. But he continued, sermon-style…

I believe in God. I believe we’re ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge.

Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves.

For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell and piss on his ashes, I ask how would God feel about your heart?

There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to #think

One of the greatest gifts this country has given us is the freedom of speech. Mendenhall has the right to his beliefs but as a fellow American, I have the right to react and voice my opinion about his comments.

I wasn’t interested in hearing bin Laden speak. This is a man that admitted to masterminding and funding the 9/11 plot and not only that, but bragged about it afterward. Thousands of people lost their lives that day and every red-blooded American was affected in some way but that tragedy. I’m saddened by Mendenhall’s comments, which were highly insensitive, especially to those who lost a loved one when the Twin Towers went down.

There will be some (maybe even many) that agree with Mendenhall’s take. That’s fine – they have the right to believe whatever they want, too. But I would once again like to point out that Mendenhall deleted the comment about how “a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style,” so clearly he did not #think when he posted that or else he wouldn’t have quickly removed it.

I don’t know Rashard Mendenhall personally, so I can only comment on his twitter posts, which I think were moronic, ignorant and misinformed. I also think they not only make him look bad, but the entire Pittsburgh Steeler organization and even the University of Illinois, where Mendenhall supposedly received an education. The reality is that he’s probably lost a ton of fan support and whether he cares about that or not, he will feel the effects of his words. Just because we have a tongue and the freedom to use it, doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for what comes out of our mouths.

Update: Mendenhall has posted a clarification which didn’t really clear anything up.