Rickie Fowler Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

PGA stars receive backlash, hate after 'Blackout Tuesday' posts

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jun 2, 2020 2:31 PM ET

Following the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, social-media users took to Instagram on June 2 to post a single black square to represent a virtual moment of silence to remember Floyd and other victims of police violence as part of the "Blackout Tuesday" movement.

Among those who participated on Tuesday were PGA stars Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler.

As Golf Magazine's Dylan Dethier documented on Twitter, those players received hate-filled responses and other backlash for their Instagram posts.

If you want a sense why pro golfers are reluctant to speak out — and how far the golf world has to go — look no further than the top comments on IG posts from @BKoepka @JustinThomas34 and @RickieFowler pic.twitter.com/f4Ewp8wLJX
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) June 2, 2020

One individual commented to Koepka:

"You don't care but you just took a stance I disagree with. Good look with your career. It has been fun...until now."

Another:

"Brooks oh boy I was a fan of yours but not now you need to stick to golf and get out of this type of arena with your post for your information all lives matter young man please stick with golf."

To Thomas:

"Can’t you just stick to golf?"

"JT you should bring that message to Chicago’s south and west side. Agreed-All lives do matter. It starts in the communities. Stick with Golf."

To Fowler:

"Stick to golf but you can’t win a major anyway. Blue lives matter too!"

"Disappointed Rickie...Your post were always about golf..."

To be clear, these are hardly huge statements by Tour pros, but they're small and important shows of support that hopefully register with their audience.
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) June 2, 2020

On Monday evening, Tiger Woods addressed Floyd's death via Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/Wn7EoTInzU
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 2, 2020

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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