Reuters

Not a week goes by without an NFL player posting something stupid on Twitter. This week it’s Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes’ turn.

Spikes took to Twitter on Wednesday and posted what appears to be a joke stolen from British comedian Jack Whitehall, who has said as part of his act, “I’m homophobic in the same sense I’m arachnopobic. I’m not scared of spiders. I’m not scared of gays, but I would scream if I saw one in my bath.”

[tweet https://twitter.com/BrandonSpikes55/status/256136402226520064%5D

For Whitehall, the biggest problem with that line is that it isn’t funny, and he’s supposed to be a comedian. For Spikes to repeat it is stupid both because if you’re going to steal a joke you should steal a funny one, and because “I’m homophobic” is a rather dumb thing for a public figure to say.

Now Spikes has created a bit of a controversy in New England, with media outlets including the Boston Globe and Boston Herald publishing critical stories about his tweet.

Spikes wasn’t in the Patriots’ locker room when media had access on Thursday, but several of his teammates were asked about it, and all of them avoided the topic and therefore avoided stirring up any further controversy. Patriots spokesman Stacey James said only, “The team has no comment.”

It’s easy to see why Spikes’s team and his teammates don’t want to wade into this controversy. But it’s hard to understand why Spikes created the controversy in the first place — or why he’s continuing to engage in Twitter arguments with people who were bothered by what he wrote. Spikes would be wise to knock it off.