This week has seen extraordinary flooding hit parts of Oklahoma, Texas, and Mexico. At least 30 people have perished because of the floods and the untold damage to scores of communities is impossible to fathom.
But for 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, it was an opportunity to get his stupid hashtag over.
In the midst of the floods, Kaepernick shared a photograph of cars underwater in Houston on his Instagram page (that has over 1 million followers mind you) with the caption, “I warned you the #7tormscoming !!! #Houston” (H/T E! for the screengrab)
This really belongs in the Pantheon of Dumb Athlete Social Media Posts because of all the factors at play here.
First, let’s talk about how remarkable it is that Kaepernick is trying to turn such an incredibly lame hashtag into some kind of brand. Apparently #7tormsComing is something he just came up with during this offseason and he’s been consistent in putting it on his various social media posts.
Grind in silence! #IDontGetTired #WhoDoYouLove #Se7enPounds #7tormsComing http://t.co/aQXtoFIIPi
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 26, 2015
Kaepernick added a hashtag to his Twitter/Instagram game this offseason: #7tormsComing https://t.co/RkEUhQeLZJ
— Steve Berman (@BASportsGuy) January 26, 2015
The hashtag doesn’t even make sense. Seven torms Coming. It’s like some kind of poorly written Game of Thrones mantra. The number 7 doesn’t even barely resemble an “S.” The number 5 does, but Kaepernick doesn’t wear 5. Even in the movie “Se7en” the number replaces the “V” and not the “S.” Remember when Dwyane Wade tried to self-appoint a new terrible nickname for himself that lasted for a few hours? Self-appointing a hashtag for yourself with awkwardly placed numbers instead of letters is like that, but exponentially worse.
To compound matters, in his infinite wisdom, Kaepnerick decided that he needed to get a little bit more literal so people could truly grasp the meaning of #7tormsComing (because it doesn’t make sense) and taunt people who were drowning in the middle of a natural disaster.
There’s social media fails, there’s social media brainfarts, there’s even social media faux paxs… but this is an entirely new category. This is social media Kaepernicking.
Of course, Kaepernick later apologized:
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) May 26, 2015
Hopefully Kaepernick has learned his lesson. Hopefully there’s somebody out there who shows a bit more restraint on social media who learns from this. And hopefully this is the end of #7tormscoming.