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By Tanae Howard

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Sept. 11, 2014) – Indiana Pacers star Paul George ignited a firestorm on Twitter after tweeting about the Ray Rice case Thursday morning.

Tweets from George’s account expressed support for Rice.

After responses came pouring in George issued an apology. But for some fans, they said it came too late.

"My first reaction is he shouldn't have sent it out. My second is no woman should be hit under any circumstances and a real man would not hit a real woman," said Pacers fan, Monica Peterson.

Word spread around Indianapolis and the entire country. Stories about George's tweets soon became national headlines.

IUPUI sports marketing professor, Dr. Jay Gladden says one single move like this could tarnish George's brand and personal image, especially after the city rallied behind him following his traumatic leg injury.

"This time could have been used to further bolster that image to build off the outpouring of support he has seen from the injury. To get people excited about how he will come back and the whole story of him coming back is going to get lost right now," said Dr. Gladden.

Here are the tweets:

https://twitter.com/Yg_Trece/status/510040908474359808

https://twitter.com/Yg_Trece/status/510048791496773633

George later issued an apology after deleting the tweets:

Let me apologize to the women and to the VICTIMS of domestic violence people my intent was not to downplay the situation.. — Paul George (@Yg_Trece) September 11, 2014



He also released a written statement through the Indiana Pacers:

"I want to apologize to all victims of domestic abuse for my insensitive tweets. They were obviously without proper understanding of the seriousness of the situation and I sincerely regret my poor choice of words."‎

Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird issued the following statement:

"Paul George's tweets from earlier were thoughtless and without regard to the subject of domestic violence and its seriousness in society. We have talked to Paul to strongly express our displeasure and made it clear that the NBA and the Pacers' organization will not condone or tolerate remarks of this nature. Paul understands that he was wrong and why his tweets were so inappropriate and is very apologetic."

Reaction came swiftly and sharply to George’s tweets, with Dan Dakich and JMV of 1070 the Fan weighing in:

Yo @Yg_Trece thought you were better than that!!! Wow!! — Dan Dakich (@dandakich) September 11, 2014

Yo @Yg_Trece .. If it "ain't BEATING" what do you call it?? Help us out here..Rice was doing what exactly?? — Dan Dakich (@dandakich) September 11, 2014

Advice.. @Yg_Trece Enjoy life. Rehab, eat, rehab, sleep. Repeat. In no way is this commentary gonna go well for you. Misinterpreted or not. — JMV1070 (@JMV1070) September 11, 2014

And some other responses:

@Yg_Trece Paul, think about what you're saying man... — Alex Gray (@AlexanderTGray) September 11, 2014

@Yg_Trece Delete homie please! Media gonna make this out the wrong way. — ASAP (@ASAPox) September 11, 2014

@Yg_Trece you're beating her the moment your hands make contact with her period. — Adrian (@aidansdaddy619) September 11, 2014

https://twitter.com/KManiatakis/status/510049521477636096