Finally, we can put to rest the longest-running, highly controversial social media debate. Haters.
Are they real?
Do they exist?
Can a person really have haters?
And the answer is yes, yes, and yes.
On April 28th, 2016, the world introduced to a real life boogie man aka “The Hater.”
Live.
Live on social media. Live on TV. And then shortly after those 2, live on social media while actually live on TV. UNFREAKINGREAL.
Laremy Tunsil, one of the top Lineman for Ole Miss (University of Mississippi), was expected to be the #1 Pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. Thirty minutes before the draft started, a tweet from his page went viral. The tweet was a video clip of him in a gas mask with a bong attached .. doing what people do when they wear a bong attached to a gas mask. While the initial reaction was ‘the type of idiot’ he had to be for tweeting that. Slowly, logic started to sink in. He’s on TV in a suit, waiting to be called for THE biggest moment in his life, and this damaging tweet all of a sudden appears. No way he would have done that. No way he could have done that. The damage was instant and significant. He went from the 1st Draft pick, to the 13th resulting in a loss of millions. And it didn’t end there.
As if the tweet was not significant enough. Later that same evening, his Instagram account mysteriously posted two screenshot conversations between him and a member of the Ole Miss Football staff discussing money needed for rent and a light bill for his mom. He was already suspended for 7 games in the 2015-2016 by the NCAA for allegations of accepting/receiving improper benefits. He already “served the time for that crime,” but again on THE biggest night of his life, another allegation of this resurfaced.
We can talk about why he even had the video or these texts saved in his phone another day.
For a second, let’s discuss the type of person who would go this far to humiliate and ruin someone LIVE on NATIONAL TV via Social Media on the biggest day of their life. We could call this bandit: a loser, bitter, vengeful, mean, conniving, a savage, any word in the dictionary that would describe a villain could apply. But even if you SUM of all of those meanings, nothing is better or more appropriate than the title of a “Hater.” It takes a high caliber loser to do something BOLD like this on a large platform such as that. For Laremy to go from the potential poster boy to laughing stock, I expect that he will utilize every penny in the millions he managed to save to find out who this hater is. And he very well should.
Congrats to him and his talent. Only a strong talent could outweigh a live, viral character attack like that. I can imagine his night ended with a loud, cloudy room and some 2 Chainz blasting, “you getting mad, I’m getting rich.”
So the next time you see ole girl on FB talking about having haters, or your man on IG posting hater memes with long rants underneath, before you roll your eyes or say to yourself “You ain’t got no damn haters man.” Remember that they are real. They do exist. And, that ole girl or homeboy could very well have them.
