Sometimes when you are a professional athlete or high-profile celebrity, you need to understand the power of fame. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Mike Mitchell is yet to fully grasp the concept that telling somebody to kill themselves is not a terrific idea, especially on Twitter. The Steelers apparently agree, telling Mitchell to stay off all social media platforms indefinitely, per CBS Pittsburgh.

Early Tuesday morning, following Pittsburgh’s 27-24 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football, Mitchell responded to a handful of clowns who were trolling him on Twitter for being a poor free-agent signing in the offseason. In a rambling diatribe, Mitchell called one fan trash while referring to another with profanity. Then he crossed over the massive imaginary line of idiotic to insanity, telling a heckler to kill themselves.

While many athletes would have denied they sent the tweet or insisted their profile was hacked, Mitchell at least took responsibility when asked by KDKA-TV’s Rich Walsh if he typed them out.

“If people tweet me, I tweet them back,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell was brought in by the Steelers on a five-year, $25 million deal after playing four seasons with the Oakland Raiders and 2013 with the Carolina Panthers. Known as a hard-hitter, Mitchell has amassed 38 tackles and two forced fumbles, although he is without an interception. Pittsburgh’s pass defense has been bad, ranking 25th in yards allowed per attempt at 7.7.

[CBS Pittsburgh]

About Matt Verderame

Matt Verderame, 26, is a New Yorker who went to school at the frozen tundra of SUNY Oswego. After graduating, Verderame has worked for Gannett and SB Nation among other ventures.

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