Ex-NFL Player Gets Apology From Wis. Church Over Event Cancellation
A former National Football League player has received an apology from a Wisconsin church that allegedly canceled a speaking engagement after the player praised NBA star Jason Collins on Twitter.
LeRoy Butler, formerly of the Green Bay Packers, stated that he was disinvited from a speaking event at an unnamed church for posting a tweet that commended Collins of the NBA for coming out as gay.
The church, which Butler has refused to identify, proceeded to apologize to him for the incident and thanked him for not mentioning their name to the public.
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"I have received an apology from the church, but mainly thanking me for not releasing the church name, too me that's not important," tweeted Butler on Wednesday.
"Also my mom says the message is bigger anyway, by the way I was raised in the church, and attend 3 to 4 times a month."
In response to the news of Collins coming out about his sexual orientation, Butler tweeted, "Congrats to Jason Collins" on Monday.
According to Butler, in response to his online posting the church he was scheduled to speak at regarding bullying and his life story opted to cancel his speaking engagement.
"Wow, I was schedule to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event, I said ok why?...Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on twitter, I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause," wrote Butler online.
"FYI the fee was 8500$,then I was told if i removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event, I said no…only god can judge."
He later tweeted, "I found out what happened, I guess some parents went to the church and complained about my tweet for support of Jason Collins, so sad."
Butler played his entire football career with the Green Bay Packers, from 1990 to 2001. Raised in Jacksonville, Fla., Butler would go on to Super Bowl XXXI and later be inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.
Butler has a philanthropic organization known as the LeRoy Butler Foundation, which helps women undergoing breast cancer treatment who are also struggling with financial issues.
As to the unnamed church, Butler would only specify that it is in the state of Wisconsin. Its identity has yet to be discovered.
The Christian Post queried several local Wisconsin newspapers as to whether or not any churches in their area had planned to feature Butler as a guest speaker.
Of the various news sources for parts of Wisconsin that CP contacted which returned comment, none of them could confirm any local news about Butler being expected to speak at a church, let alone that a church in their area had canceled the event.
The lack of information emanating from the church has been sufficient for some news sources, including The Huffington Post, to use the word "allegedly" when describing the actions of the unknown church.
