Bucs' Carlton Davis Deletes Tweet With Anti-Asian Slur, Says He Didn't Know It Was One

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Carlton Davis deleted a Sunday night tweet that included an anti-Asian slur, but many Florida residents have defended the remark as slang taken from the lyrics of a popular 2016 song about Miami.

Davis, 24, issued a follow-up apology for the tweet that comes amid reports of rising hate crimes and anti-Asian rhetoric stemming from the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Davis' since-deleted tweet read, "Gotta stop letting g***s in Miami," in an apparent reference to rapper Denzel Curry's 2016 song of the same name. The Miami Gardens, Florida, native earlier described use of the word as a form of empowerment for society's outcasts, not as an anti-Asian racial slur.

But Davis was immediately criticized for the tweet and issued an apology that sought to clarify his intention that it was not meant to be offensive or racist.

"I would never offend any group of people," Davis wrote in a tweet which was accompanied by an image from a slang "Urban Dictionary" website entry. "You reporters can look for another story to blow up. The term was directed towards a producer claiming he 'ran Miami' With that being said I'll retire that word from my vocabulary giving the hard times our Asian family are enduring ❤️."

Newsweek reached out to Curry for a response Monday morning but was unable to get in touch with representatives for the South Florida-centric musician.

As ESPN first reported, Davis has previously spoken out about his experiences with racism being a Black man in America. He is part of the Buccaneers' social justice board and has met with Florida officials to help build better community relations with police officers.

Curry, writing on his official YouTube artist page back in 2016, described the song title "G--k" as a reference to "local street slang for 'lame or weird.'" He added, "Not to be confused with the racial slur used to describe Foreigners, Denzel dives deep into Miami culture creating an anthem...made to empower societies [sic] outcasts, the song focuses on not being afraid to be yourself and turning that negative into a positive."

In spite of the Miami slang-term entries, Dictionary.com's official entry for the word defines it as "a contemptuous term used to refer to a native of Southeast Asia or the South Pacific, especially a member of an enemy military force." The word in American culture has roots dating back to the Vietnam War.

Newsweek reached out to the Buccaneers organization for any additional remarks about the debate Monday morning.