Pete Abraham On Racist Twitter Accusation: 'Case Of Mistaken Identity'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Boston Globe Red Sox reporter and frequent Toucher & Rich guest Peter Abraham got himself into a bit of a Twitter mess in the past week.
When responding to a fan who expressed discontent with David Price, Abraham referred to the Twitter user as "Grand Wizard," which is a reference to the leader of a group of the Ku Klux Klan.
Abraham later deleted the tweet, and he tweeted out an explanation of sorts on Friday evening. But as a guest on Monday morning's Toucher & Rich program (with Ryan Johnston and Mike Flynn filling in), Abraham explained a bit more.
"It was basically, it was a case of mistaken identity," Abraham said. "Somebody gave a friend and me a hard time at a recent game that I covered and followed it up online with some stupid remarks, and I kind of ignored it at the time. And then, somebody who I thought was the same person had said something else, so I fired back at him and it turned out not to be that person. It was somebody else. I deleted the tweet, I felt bad about it. I tried to get a hold of that person and couldn't do it, and then it kind of became something.
"It was something, obviously it was a stupid thing to do. I wish I hadn't done it. But it was basically mistaken identity. It wasn't something where I was trying to go after somebody."
Flynn asked Abraham if he is aware of the sensitivity in the city of Boston to charges of racism.
"Well, sure, yeah," Abraham said. "Like I said, I thought it was somebody else who had said some pretty awful remarks to me and a friend of mine. That's who I thought it was. And it turned out not to be that person."
Abraham said that while the Twitter response has been strong, that's not representative of the level of significance that the incidence rose to.
"It was interesting. I learned that only 7 percent of people are on Twitter, and it's actually kind of …. a lot of us in the media think Twitter is kind of a consensus of opinion. And it's really not. So that's been interesting to kind of learn," Abraham said. "I think a lot of is, as opposed to Facebook and opposed to other social media [networks], Twitter's got like a real angry, ugly edge to it. And I think that's something, when something like this happens, a lot of people who are just looking to be angry find a way to be angry.
"Like I said, it was a case of mistaken identity," he added. "I think other people out there latched onto it for lack of having anything else to talk about. And it's kind of died down in the last 24-48 hours or so."
Abraham also discussed the Red Sox, including Drew Pomeranz's injury, Andrew Benintendi's spot in the lineup, Rick Porcello's latest spring results, Pablo Sandoval's performance, and more. Listen below:
