Update: “Free @RexChapman.” Twitter account of former UK basketball star suspended.
Twitter users have pleaded Monday for Rex Chapman’s account to be reactivated after it was suspended sometime Monday morning.
Chapman, a former University of Kentucky men’s basketball player and NBA veteran, said Monday night his account was suspended over copyright infringement. He did not say what video was in question.
Chapman has found new life as a social media sensation in 2019 with his “block or charge” tweets. Videos Chapman tweets show collisions or things you might see on “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” These tweets often get hundreds or thousands of retweets with people giving their reasoning why the video depicted a block or charge.
“You’ve gotta know basketball a little bit. ‘Were they set? Where were their feet?’” Chapman told Slam Online earlier this month. “My favorites are the ones where people are willfully ignorant or drunk and get hurt but not die.”
But it appears his “block or charge” tweets have placed Chapman in Twitter jail.
University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Chris Mack is among the Twitter users who are hoping Chapman’s account is reinstated.
“Free @RexChapman,” Mack said. “I need my daily block or charge.”
Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones, political adviser Adam Parkhomenko, football analyst Mike Florio and actor/comedian Michael Rapaport were among the Twitter users inquiring about Chapman’s suspension Monday.
Other videos Chapman has tweeted have shown a man accidentally light his groin on fire, a police car getting struck by a train and a dog obliterating a toddler, according to The Athletic. He’s also tweeted videos of someone sliding on wet pavement into a car and a dolphin leaping out of an ocean and striking someone on a paddleboard, USA Today reported.
People send him the videos and he usually tweets some throughout each day, according to The Athletic.
“I used to kind of look for them, but now there’s just so much to choose from and hey, I know some of them can be pretty tough to look at. The ones I turn down are really tough to look at,” he said.
It’s not clear how long his account will be suspended.
This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 1:39 PM.