The New York Times faced a hail of criticism online Friday after including the accusations of domestic violence against NFL legend Jim Brown in a tweet referencing the player’s death.
News of Brown’s death broke Friday afternoon as a spokeswoman for the Brown family confirmed that the Pro Football Hall of Famer and civil rights activist had passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 87.
The New York Times posted their story on Brown’s historic sports career and the impact he left as an actor and activist. However, the tweet describing the article also included a reference to the accusations of domestic violence against Brown.
Twitter users were quick to denounce the Times for prominently placing information about the NFL legend’s past with domestic violence in the tweet.
Most news publications included information about the domestic violence accusations against Brown in their obituaries.
“While he had a soft spot for those in need, and his generosity changed lives, he also was arrested a half-dozen times, mostly on charges of hitting women,” the Associated Press reported in their article marking Brown’s death.
“In June 1999, Brown’s wife called 911, saying Brown had smashed her car with a shovel and threatened to kill her. During the trial, Monique Brown recanted. Jim Brown was acquitted of a charge of domestic threats but convicted of misdemeanor vandalism. The Los Angeles judge sentenced Brown to six months in jail when he refused to attend domestic violence counseling.”
However, the New York Times seems to be one of the few outlets that placed the domestic violence accusations prominently in their social media posts and in the articles themselves.