More than a month after Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall caused a controversy by writing on Twitter that he doubted Osama bin Laden’s role in 9/11, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has weighed in and said Mendenhall didn’t realize the impact his words would have.
“He shouldn’t have said it,” Tomlin told KDKA in Pittsburgh. “Yes, it is a freedom of speech issue. Yes, he is a young man, and he has a right to his opinion. But sometimes these young men got to understand the positions that they hold and the influence that they have and to be highly sensitive to that.”
Tomlin said Mendenhall may not have realized the reach that his comments would have or the extent to which they would make people angry.
“I think that, more than anything, in those chain of events, he was not sensitive to the power of his words or his positions on that subject or on any subject,” Tomlin said. “I think life is an education. I think these young men or continually educated to what comes along with being them, and that’s just an example of it.”
Tomlin also noted that Mendenhall’s age may have been a factor.
“Here’s the thing that I think a lot of people miss, is that that kid was 12 years old on 9/11,” Tomlin said. “He doesn’t have an idea of what pre-9/11 adult life was like in America. He doesn’t understand the ramifications of how life changed in America on that day [be]cause he was a kid.”
For the record, Mendenhall was 14, not 12, on 9/11. And he’s an adult now, and deserves to be held accountable for his statements, as adults are. Mendenhall’s age doesn’t give him a pass, but Tomlin is surely right that that Mendenhall wasn’t sensitive to the power of his words or his positions.
