Bills K Dan Carpenter's wife responds to criticism of castration tweet
Kaela Carpenter, the wife of Bills kicker Dan Carpenter, has responded to criticism of her tweet suggesting Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman be castrated for his low hit on her husband, saying she did not intend the reference to be racist.
On Tuesday, following the Bills' 25–31 loss to the Seahawks on Monday, Carpenter tweeted, "I know what we do on the farm when a male can't control his own rage. #LuckyImNotThere #Sherman #ActLikeAnAnimalGetTreatedLike1," with a photo of a castration device.
On Wednesday, Carpenter had deleted the tweet and posted a new one explaining that the original message was intended to be humorous.
"My attempt at humor during a heated and highly controversial NFL game has not been received the way I intended," Carpenter wrote. "When I saw the out of control nature of the events that happened on the field, I jokingly wanted to relate it to life on the farm, where I grew up, and how it would have been handled there. Unfortunately, I did not realize that a tone of racism would dominate the response to what I intended to be a lighthearted defense of my husband. Regardless of the narrative that has been attached to my post, it was never intended to be related to race, or the disgusting hatred that creates the basis for racism."
The NFL said after the game that Sherman should have been flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play, in which he dove at Carpenter's legs in the second quarter as he was preparing to make a kick.
Sherman responded to the original tweet on Tuesday, saying, "Thank you! Have a great day."
