It seems that Twitter is one of the main communication interfaces of this year’s WSOP, because of its ability to reach so many people for quick status updates. But when Victory Poker pro Dan Bilzerian posted a tweet quoting a line from the box office hit movie Gran Torino, he wasn’t expecting the reaction he received.
In the controversial tweet recently posted by Bilzerian, he quoted the line used by Clint Eastwood saying, “A Mexican, a Jew and a colored fellow walk into a bar… The bartender looks up and says… Get the **** out of here”. Unaware to Bilzerian his quote wasn’t taken that light-hearted by many. This was especially the case for the poker reporter Joy Miller, who expressed her outrage to Bilzerian in a hostel way.
Dan Bilzerian’s later posted about the situation in a thread on the TwoPlusTwo Forum:
“She told the CEO from victory poker that neither myself or any of the 20 sponsored pros would get any ESPN coverage until I gave a formal apology. I explained to her that it was a quote from a movie. She flipped out and started swearing and screaming at me about using the word colored. She sent me a bunch of angry texts, yelled at the CEO, and you can hear the voicemail she left swearing and yelling at me in the link below. I explained to her that the NAACP stands for the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, and if had a problem with the use of the world colored, she should seek an apology from them as well.”
Joy Miller claimes to work for ESPN, but sources close to ESPN denied her claims.
YouTube was then used to publicizes the message Dan received from Joy on his phone: “I don’t give a **** if the quote was from a movie. I asked you to apologize because you said ‘colored’ and I just don’t get what you don’t get about that. I don’t even want an apology anymore. Good luck to you.”
Instead of just resolving to a quick-fix solution to the problem by apologizing, Bilzerian has been adding fuel to the fire. After numerous amounts of hateful communication between the two the likelihood of peace will be found is long gone. Only time will tell If Miller has the power to disrupt the Victory Poker’s coverage at the 2010 WSOP.