In an interesting example of the racially-charged nature of public debates surrounding riot situations, when Sports Illustrated posted footage of a bunch of out-of-control Philadelphia Eagles fans literally tearing the city apart one pole at a time, the conversation on social media instantly turned racial.
Here’s the original tweet by Sports Illustrated that set off the firestorm:
While some of SI’s followers took a few different angles on the footage, most of the response thread was consumed by racially-charged discussions of riots, “thugs,” supposedly racially-biased police response, and Black Lives Matter. One responder also threw out a gratuitous reference to conservative personality Tomi Lahren.
Below is the very first response to SI’s post, followed by some direct responses to it, as well as some other tweets focused on race:
As for that final question about the “swat teams,” they indeed showed up in full force. A few photos:
[[{“fid”:”29920″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“2”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”}},”attributes”:{“alt”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..”,”title”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”2″}}]][[{“fid”:”29921″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police stand guard as fans celebrate in Center City after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl on February 5, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images”},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“3”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police stand guard as fans celebrate in Center City after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl on February 5, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images”}},”attributes”:{“alt”:”Police stand guard as fans celebrate in Center City after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl on February 5, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “,”title”:”Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”3″}}]]
[[{“fid”:”29919″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”}},”attributes”:{“alt”:”Police officers stand guard as Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate victory in Super Bowl LII game against New England Patriots on February 4, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.”,”title”:”Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]
Related: Top 6 Most INSANE Videos Out Of Philly After Super Bowl Win