KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A since-deleted tweet from the Kansas City Chiefs Twitter account is facing criticism after making reference to landlords using intimidation to get people to pay rent in a year when millions of Americans struggle to do just that.
“The Landlord pulls up with these guys to collect rent ... What do you do?” read the tweet, which included a photo of Tyrann Mathieu, whose nickname is “The Landord,” Frank Clark and Chris Jones.
The post was made at 9:44 a.m. Monday and deleted a short time later.
KC Tenants, a grassroots tenants’ rights organization in Jackson County, Missouri, group called the post “tone-deaf.”
KC Tenants tweeted the post, writing: “The Chiefs know that thousands of our neighbors have been and will be evicted — in the middle of a pandemic — because they can’t pay their rent, right? Or is it too much to ask that wealthy athletes maintain an ounce of compassion for everyday people?”
Members of the Chiefs’ communications team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tara Raghuveer, the founding director of KC Tenants, said the Chiefs have tweeted similar things in the past. And while such jokes have always been somewhat tone deaf, right now they’re especially unfortunate.
“There are neighbors of Chiefs players who are suffering in immense ways right now because of their inability to pay their rent and at the hands of their landlords, some of whom are forcing them to the streets in the middle of a global pandemic,” Raghuveer said.
She said while the players tagged didn’t send the tweet, and she appreciates whomever manages the account deleting it, she sees this as an opportunity for the Chiefs to become more engaged in the issues around evictions.
She invited any members of the team who are interested to get involved with KC Tenants.
“I don’t think any of us are out here to blame the players for a stupid tweet that was probably sent without a second thought,” Raghuveer said. “But it’s the beginning of a dialogue that can hopefully continue about the role that the Chiefs and the players on that team could play in being part of the solution.”
Mathieu, who earned his nickname in the second half of last season, played off the name to help families in need earlier this year.
In March, the Tyrann Mathieu Foundation donated 30,000 meals to Kansas City families affected by the coronavirus. Over the summer, Bleacher Report showed the good things the defensive back was doing in his hometown of New Orleans, including paying rent for families affected by the pandemic.
Matthew Calcara, a progressive political activist in Olathe, tweeted at the Chiefs to donate to KC Tenants and called on Mathieu to join the KC Tenants board to use his platform to help “fight evictions & secure decent housing for all Kansas Citians.”
