There’s no faster or easier way for a member of the sports media to get in trouble than doing something stupid on Twitter. John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant, come on down…
The UConn women dismantled Texas today in their Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament game 105-54. In addition to tweeting about the game, Altavilla took the time away from his paid duties to creepily comment on the Texas cheerleaders. Altavilla deleted the tweets, but they still exist in screenshot form.
Hey, @hartfordcourant: Your UConn women's hoops beat writer, @jaltavilla, is out here openly leering at cheerleaders. pic.twitter.com/V6TG9EUa68
— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) March 28, 2015
Ick. It’s like watching one of those uncomfortably weird Family Guy parodies actually come to life. The creep factor in a sportswriter publicly ogling cheerleaders who may not have even born yet when he started his career at the paper is astronomical. For the record, both Altavilla and the Courant apologized (although Altavilla was telling ESPN’s Sarah Spain to “take it easy” after earlier criticism of the tweets) and the paper says his tweets are under review.
https://twitter.com/jaltavilla/status/581861754411610114
The @hartfordcourant apologizes for offensive tweets sent today by UConn basketball writer John Altavilla. The incident is under review.
— Hartford Courant (@hartfordcourant) March 28, 2015
Considering Altavilla is the beat writer for perhaps the most prominent women’s athletics program in the country, there couldn’t be much worse things to tweet than casually catcalling college cheerleaders through social media.
Comments are closed.