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The story of The MMQB’s Robert Klemko facing multiple charges in Chicago for allegedly punching a cab driver and then speeding off in the cab is one of the more bizarre examples of sports media members getting in trouble.

King announced on Thursday that SI and The MMQB had suspended Klemko for four weeks for the altercation.  At this point, not much is known about the case or what the legal fallout will be.  However, after investigating the case further, clearly King and Sports Illustrated found enough cause to severely and publicly discipline Klemko.

That was not the case earlier this week.

No, on Monday as word was starting to trickle out regarding the charges facing Klemko, King stood by his writer on Twitter.  Not only that, King said he “loved” Klemko in one of those awkwardly trademark “reply after the RT instead of before” tweets in spite of being faced with the details of the charges.

Some of the replies to those tweets, especially in the hindsight of Klemko’s four week suspension, show the problem with King’s clumsy initial response.

https://twitter.com/arquimedezpozo/status/524395739624267777

At no time until the suspension was announced did King show public concern over the charges or even an inclination that it was a matter he, The MMQB, and Sports Illustrated took seriously.  Only that he “loved” Klemko.

King’s initial response came off as sarcastically dismissive of the case.  In fact, it was reminiscent of the unconscionable PR responses of the Baltimore Ravens as they were defending Ray Rice throughout his downfall this fall.  Nobody is comparing the two cases in terms of severity (and in no way is King’s tweet as bad as the “Why I Like Ray Rice” debacle), but the mindset in blindly defending one of your own in the face of legal trouble is strikingly similar.  It’s fair to ask whether people in other walks of life would even be able to keep their job with the kind of charges facing Klemko.  How could King not recognize that he was taking a page from the league’s tone-deaf PR playbook?  How could he transmit an attitude of such flippancy towards his writer allegedly punching out a cabbie and stealing his vehicle?

Furthermore – what changed in the three days between King saying he “loved” Klemko and suspending him for a month?

Instead of taking a lesson from the NFL’s wayward steps and reserving comment, King took a public stand that has now backfired.

As an editor, you can love and support your writer all you want, but to basically mock the allegations towards Klemko was incredibly tone-deaf.  Especially given what we’ve all been through in the NFL this fall, it was a baffling decision by King to handle Klemko’s issues publicly the way he did and widens the trust gap that has developed this year.