State lawmaker: Arizona is a "desert racist wasteland"

A Washington state representative is not happy about the Seattle Seahawks' recent defeat

Published December 23, 2013 3:43PM (EST)

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer             (Reuters/Darryl Webb)
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (Reuters/Darryl Webb)

Washington state Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon does not like to see his Seattle Seahawks lose.

Taking to his Twitter account after the Seahawks' defeat to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Fitzgibbon tweeted, "Losing a football game sucks. Losing to a desert racist wasteland sucks a lot."

Fitzgibbon deleted the tweet, but not before the Associated Press' Mike Baker got a screen-grab and tweeted it on his own:

 

Fitzgibbon would ultimately tell Baker in an interview that he called Arizona racist because of the state's controversial law requiring police officers to ask suspects about their immigration status. The law, Fitzgibbon told Baker, amounted to racial profiling. During his talk with Baker, Fitzgibbon also apologized for the tweet, describing it simply as an example of sports fan trash talk. "If folks are going to take that too seriously, then I'm sorry about that," Fitzgibbon said.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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