LaVar Ball and LeVar Burton are two completely different names and persons. But don’t tell that to the vanguard of literacy that is Twitter.
See, Ball was recently interviewed on CNN, criticizing US President Donald Trump for the latter’s insistence on hearing Ball’s camp say thanks for his role in rescuing LaVar’s son, LiAngelo and two other UCLA Bruins players, from prison time in China. All throughout the CNN interview, Ball was defiant of the idea of expressing gratefulness towards Trump.
Plenty of people saw LaVar verbal tussle with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, even non-basketball fans, who, before the interview, had no idea who LaVar was. This created a perfect storm on Twitter with people jumping onto their phones with the savage intent of putting LaVar on blast. Unfortunately for Burton, an actor by trade and best known for playing the role of Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, many of these agitated folks mistakenly mentioned his Twitter handle in ranting about Ball.
@levarburton You're a has been actor with a thief for a son and Trump is the president of the United States. Get the picture?
— markconte (@proseman) November 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/kglass1957/status/932990756909912065
We could just imagine Burton’s phone going off with a barrage of Twitter notification appearing on his phone. The man could handle just so much hate, so Burton felt it was necessary for him to react.
One of many sleights I am having to endure these days. Thanks! @Lavarbigballer… #bydhttmwfi https://t.co/uYkoDOV6yZ
— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) November 21, 2017
Poor LeVar. All these must have left him wishing of escaping to the cosmos while waiting for everything to subside.