The Ravens on Sunday condemned racist and homophobic tweets sent from fullback-defensive lineman Patrick Ricard's Twitter account over five years ago.
The messages resurfaced Saturday night, and the team condemned them in a statement before its game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Ricard, a second-year undrafted player who grew up in Massachusetts and starred at Maine, was inactive for the second straight game.
"The tweets are totally unacceptable, and we have addressed the matter with Pat," the Ravens said in a statement. "We expect he'll have something to say later today after the game."
The tweets have been deleted and Ricard seems to have recently made his Twitter account private. But other users captured some of his insensitive language, which included a racist epithet. " 'My phone spins like a [expletive] at a disco'- me!" he wrote in 2011.
Other times, he used a homophobic slur. "I don't even want to see that [expletive] wearing a patriots uniform," he wrote in 2013.
The incident is the latest instance of demeaning messages resurfacing on athletes' social media platforms. In July, Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Josh Hader apologized after a set of tweets using racist, homophobic and sexist language were uncovered during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Early Sunday morning, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray also expressed regret for homophobic tweets he made years ago, which came to light hours after he won the Heisman Trophy.
