After it was reported that five members of the Crimson Tide football team have tested positive for Covid-19, rumors began to swirl as to who it may be. Another report from CBS 42’s Simone Eli states that those infected consist of an offensive lineman, a couple skill position players and a quarterback.
One important name that was brought up was Alabama’s expected starting quarterback for the 2020 season, redshirt-senior Mac Jones.
One comedic twitter user that is popular among the Alabama twitter community is Luke Ratliff (@Fluffapotamus88), a 23-year old Public Relations student at the University of Alabama from Wadesboro, North Carolina. Ratliff, gives his opinions on most large stories concerning the Crimson Tide, often times from a comedic standpoint.
Ratliff quoted a report which states the positions of the infected players and included a meme commonly used by members of the Alabama football twitter community.
MAC JONES
👁👁
👃🏻
👄
MAC JONES https://t.co/VZj9jVpgNK— Cameron Luke Ratliff (@fluffopotamus88) June 4, 2020
However, it was in a reply to Ratliff’s following tweet where Gordon Jones, Mac’s dad, decided to chime in.
“alabama quarterback mike jones,” read the tweet.
alabama quarterback mike jones
— Cameron Luke Ratliff (@fluffopotamus88) June 4, 2020
A seemingly harmless mistake or an intentional play on his name in reference to the early-2000’s rapper Mike Jones. Regardless of the circumstances, Jone’s father had seen enough.
In a now-deleted tweet that stayed up for over an hour before being taken down, Gordon Jones claimed that Ratliff’s remarks were “libelous” and “defamatory.”
He gives Ratliff the opportunity to take the tweet down before “getting into the legal aspect.”
The tweet does make it clear that Mac is not the quarterback in question that may have tested positive for the Coronavirus, but it does present the possibility of bringing legal action against Ratliff if the tweet, or tweets, are not taken down.
Because the tweet was deleted we are led to believe that he’s no longer considering presenting Ratliff with any sort of legal proceedings.
The Alabama student stood his ground and refused to delete the tweet. In fact, he edited Michael Jordan’s 1995 famous press release to make it his own.
— Cameron Luke Ratliff (@fluffopotamus88) June 4, 2020
Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on anything new that transpires between Ratliff and Gordon Jones.