Dwyane Wade made a mistake.
He knew it and tried to fix it very quickly, but it's never quickly enough in the age of social media and instant everything.
When you tweet something you should not have to 9 million Twitter followers around the world, it's out there, an echo reverberating. You can delete what you wrote, and he did, but you cannot make it disappear.
D-Wade, retired Miami Heat legend and beloved icon, was defended by some but buried by consensus. The mea culpa came fast, the explanation, the carefully worded oops. It helped. But it's never enough.
In the offending tweet, Wade supported Nick Cannon after the TV host was fired by ViacomCBS for making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast. Wade tweeted at Cannon, "We are with you" and "Keep leading!" along with a black fist emoji.
The national context made it worse, as both Cannon's comments and Wade's initial reaction come at a time of great tension in America over prejudice and divide. It is more than the ongoing protests for racial justice in the wake of the George Floyd killing. It is anti-Asian incidents ignorantly related to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic originating in China. And it is a rise in hate crimes of anti-Semitism targeting those of the Jewish faith.
Wade quickly wrote, "I want to clarify my now deleted tweet. I was not supporting or condoning what Nick Cannon specifically said, but I had expressed my support of him owning the content and brand he helped create." The emoji this time was prayer hands.
Less than an hour later Wade said in another tweet: "I was too quick to respond without being fully informed about his hurtful anti-Semitic remarks. As you all know I have ZERO tolerance for any hate speech!"
The first response was an explanation that fell short of contrition.
The second was better, because it acknowledged that Cannon's words were anti-Semitic, offensive and hurtful to many in the Jewish community _ and because it rightly reminded the world what Miami knows very well about Dwyane Wade's heart. Who he is as a man.
A show of hands from anyone reading this. Who is perfect out there? (I'd be the guy way near the end of that line.) Who has never made a mistake and regretted it? Most of us do more than we'd like to admit. Almost none of us have the platform and voice Wade does. It means he has to choose his words more carefully, a lesson learned.
For this blemish, Wade deserves benefit of doubt, not lasting condemnation. The way he has led his life off the court indicates a man of principle and high character, of fairness and inclusion. It should earn him a Get Out of Jail Free Card for an aberrant misstep such as this.
This is a man who led the Heat's call for justice after the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Wade in 2016 was one of four NBA players who stood together and called for athlete activism toward social equality to begin the ESPY Awards. "The racial profiling has to stop. The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop," he said. "Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. Enough. Enough is enough."
In 2018 it was D-Wade who visited and lifted Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland after that school saw the massacre of 17 students and faculty _ the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.
It was Wade, just this past February, who appeared on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" and spoke of his 12-year-old daughter as coming out as transgender. The love and pride Wade expressed for Zion becoming Zaya was seen as a milestone in public support for Black trans kids.
Wade said on the show, "We are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we're proud allies as well."
This is a man who has consistently led a very public life on the right side of advocacy, of matters of conscience and equality.
This week he stumbled with a tweet he regretted. It makes him human, not less a man.
We know who Dwayne Wade is, and we know it by heart.
