Mayweather, who spent 90 days in prison in 2012 for domestic abuse, is one of the most divisive athletes on the planet and the Warriors were condemned for a tweet welcoming him to the game.
Welcome to #WarriorsGround, @FloydMayweather! pic.twitter.com/FwV3ibrQpW
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) May 14, 2015Mayweather was booed relentlessly when his face was shown on the big screen during an in-game interview.
The online response came thick and fast, with fans wondering why Golden State would associate themselves with Mayweather.
@warriors @FloydMayweather KICK HIM OUT
— davidism (@mvrceIo) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather yuck
— Zach Hodes (@ZachHodes) May 14, 2015@warriors woman beater
— OLIVER SKYWOLF (@OliverSkywolf) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather why would you want your brand associated with him
— mike zappitello (@mzappitello) May 14, 2015@warriors @floydmayweather This is disgusting.
— Ξnzo Santos (@MrbENZOdrine) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather we want manny instead
— Dylan robertson (@Dylrobbo10Dylan) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather no he can get the hell out!
— Alana (@AllamaBread) May 14, 2015@warriors and now you're promoting this man? What does it take? Do you need video like the Ray Rice situation? This is disgusting.
— Lucas Meyer (@meyer_lucas) May 14, 2015.@warriors @FloydMayweather Wow. very disappointing. Nothing says "class" like celebrating a serial abuser. You're better than that, #Dubs.
— Bay Area Gooners (@BayAreaGooners) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather DELETE THIS.
— Good, solid man (@fcnquotes) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather DELETE THIS NOW. he is not welcome
— Good, solid man (@fcnquotes) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather no thank you forever
— Eireann Dolan (@EireannDolan) May 14, 2015@warriors @FloydMayweather Over 1250 people have retweeted this and over 1800 have favorited it. Why?
— John (@John77) May 14, 2015And this is just a small sample of the tweet Golden State received.
Despite the backlash, Golden State didn’t delete the tweet, unlike ESPN’s NBA twitter account which was subjected to a similar outcry after posting about Mayweather at the game.
welp RT @ESPNNBA: Real recognize real. TMT aka @FloydMayweather is in the building... http://t.co/wnugaUa53J
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) May 14, 2015NBA on ESPN's twitter account deleted their Mayweather "real recognizes real" tweet. Guess they recognized that the backlash was real.
— Sreekar (@sreekyshooter) May 14, 2015