Yesterday afternoon during the USA vs. Portugal match, jokes flew fast and hard about Ronaldo’s douche-looking haircut. Hell, I even helped perpetuate the fun on the @BroBible account. Just some good, light-hearted ribbing in the spirit of sports at the national level when everything is on the line:
Who wore it better? @Cristiano or @vanillaice? pic.twitter.com/Gj5UxWtke3
— Stefanie Williams (@StefWilliams25) June 22, 2014
Nice “jersey shore” douche haircut, bro. #tryharder pic.twitter.com/t0uUtxmrlF — Brandon Wenerd (@brandonwenerd) June 22, 2014
How badly do you want to beat Portugal for this fucking face alone? #punchablepic.twitter.com/ozocyRIjbZ — BroBible (@BroBible) June 22, 2014
Nice hair cut.. even Ronaldo knows #USA pic.twitter.com/LALozdBx3N — Taylor Gehlen (@tgehlen) June 22, 2014
That’s just a taste of Sports! twitter for you.
Ronaldo supporters — much like LeBron James supporters — apparently don’t take kindly to jokes made about one of the greatest soccer players to ever play the game. And shortly after the game ended, a very fake Twitter parody account (powered by RTs from other parody accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers) blasted out this message claiming Ronaldo’s ridiculous haircut was to match the scar from a kid with cancer:
Ronaldo cut his hair to match the scar of a young fan who had surgery to remove a brain tumor last week. #respect pic.twitter.com/weaTKPNG5n
— 2014 World Cup (@2014WorIdCup) June 23, 2014
Here’s why that’s bullshit. Yes, Ronaldo was an awesome human being who paid $83,000 for the surgery of a 10-month-old child suffering from a brain disorder. But the cited is from March 2014.
Twitter misinformation machine is spewing B.S. again. This @ForTheWin article is from March. http://t.co/9EZ9L5jUFf pic.twitter.com/pAq90DOItT
— Brandon Wenerd (@brandonwenerd) June 23, 2014
The same blog, USA Today’s FTW, actually made fun of Ronaldo’s hair yesterday, calling it “ridiculous” in a headline and noting that “Ice Ice Baby” was blaring from the bus speakers when they got to the stadium. If the whole scar/haircut thing was true, there’s no way a blog with any sense of decency would make fun of Ronaldo while also building up how noble and symbolic his new haircut is.
Deadspin, meanwhile, notes:
“Cortical dysplasia is a congenital abnormality in the brain that can cause epilepsy, not a disease caused by a tumor. Finally, there are no reports sourced to Ronaldo—or, for that matter, from anyone who isn’t a random jabroni on Twitter—saying that he shaved his head for Erik Ortiz Cruz.”
In other words, if you tried to Social media-shame people for making fun of Ronaldo’s haircut, you’re just as much of a sheep as those of us doing the name calling.
Next time check your facts, Twitter.