Raptors issue apology after deleted Women's History Month tweet goes viral

Toronto's NBA franchise made headlines for all the wrong reasons on Thursday.

The Raptors posted a video dedicated to Women's History Month earlier this week, but quickly deleted it. This is due to the 16-second clip being inundated with backlash, with many lambasting it for being tone-deaf and insincere.

The video in question featured Malachi Flynn, 24, Precious Achiuwa, 23, and reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, 21. Each gave a brief, one-sentence answer as to why “girls run the world” — which was a nod to Beyonce’s hit song, “Run the World (Girls).”

Flynn opened the video by saying that women “are the only one that can procreate.” Building on his teammate's answer, Achiuwa said women run the world because “they birth everybody.”

Barnes opted not to talk about women’s ability to give birth and simply lauded them for their excellence. He said, “all women are great because they are queens.”

The invidious clip prompted fans to question whether posts from a team’s social media account are vetted before being disseminated.

Raptors issue an apology

On Thursday, the Raptors organization issued an apology for their since-deleted video. In a statement to the Toronto Sun, the team lamented their lackadaisical video and said that they’ll “work to do better today and every day after.”

“We're an organization that prides itself on doing the right thing when it comes to inclusion and representation, and we made a mistake [Tuesday],” Toronto officials said. “Our sincerest apologies to our players, our staff and our fans — we'll work to do better today and every day after.”

Toronto will host Women’s Empowerment Night on March 14 against the Denver Nuggets at Scotiabank Arena. This initiative is meant to not only extoll women for their brilliance but empower them to succeed in both in sports and life.