Boston Celtics big man luminary Bill Russell continued his criticism of U.S. president Donald Trump on Twitter, taking shots at the head of state for low attendance of a rally Trump held in Tulsa, Oklahoma that had been originally scheduled on June 19th.
The choice of that date and location were seen by many — including Russell — as an insult to the memory of both Juneteenth (commemorating the emancipation of slaves at the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865 on that date) and the Tulsa race massacre, which saw whites massacre the most affluent Black neighborhood in the U.S. in 1921.
With that in mind, Russell tweeted a jab at the president Sunday after seeing the low turnout at the Trump Tulsa rally on the 20th.
“At #TrumpRally tonight I saw there were LOTS of @realDonaldTrump
supporters dressed as empty seats,” joked the 11-time NBA champion.
“Hope they heard him say how he said 2 slow #COVID testing of the #American people,” he added, referring to a comment by Trump that he’d slowed down testing later walked back as a joke. “Does that mean he will stop getting tested daily? #Coward Wear a mask!”
Monday morning, he went at Trump again.
After the president tweeted a claim the looming 2020 U.S. presidential elections as likely to be rigged, noting it will be “the scandal of our times,” Russell turned the tables, accusing Trump himself as exactly that.
It seems this president has re-awoken one of the Celtics’ most outspoken champions of civil rights with Trump’s confrontational and contentious style of leadership on both issues of race and the pandemic.
Knowing Russell, this likely won’t be the last time to two figures clash.
And among Celtics past and present, he’s not alone, either.
