Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Heisman Trophy winner and presumed #1 overall NFL Draft pick Fernando Mendoza has done an excellent job of procuring a squeaky clean personal image. An old skeleton in his social media closet, however, has become the first stain on that finely-tuned public face.
A comment that Fernando Mendoza left on a LeBron James Instagram post about the murder of George Floyd at the hands of former police officer Derek Chauvin has resurfaced and is going viral on social media.
Chauvin, 50 years old is a former police officer who murdered Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. Chauvin was arrested and convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, and has since been sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.
Old comment from Fernando Mendoza about Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd resurfaces ahead of NFL Draft
Mendoza, however — or at least the 2020 version of the Heisman Trophy winning former Indiana QB — wrote on LeBron’s Instagram that the photo of Chauvin choking the life out of Floyd needed “more context” because “you ever know what he did wrong.”
“You need to explain the context of the first photo of the cop on the man, because you never know what he did wrong,” Mendoza wrote.
— That Pot8toe (@TPot8toe) April 8, 2026
Chauvin and fellow officers were called to the scene in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, in response a store clerk accusing Floyd of usig a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill.
This may come as a surprise to Mendoza and those of his ilk, but the penalty for using counterfeit money is not death. The $20 bill that prompted the call to police was never conclusively confirmed as counterfeit, as well.
In defense of Mendoza, who is 22 years old, the comment was made when he was just 16, so perhaps it could be chalked up to immaturity and he has since properly educated himself on the tragedy.