A tweet claiming that the NBA champion Golden State Warriors would refuse to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House went viral Tuesday, despite presenting zero evidence.
Stockbroker and CNBC personality Josh Brown tweeted that the Warriors would skip the White House visit, citing "reports." He said the team made a "unanimous" decision on the issue.
NBA champion Warriors skipping the White House visit, as a unanimous team decision per reports.
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) June 13, 2017
When asked which reports he was alluding to, Brown said that he had seen verified Twitter accounts making the claim. But when pressed, he admitted he could not find those tweets again and wondered if they had been deleted.
just repeated a few other verified users on twitter who had said it early this morning. I have no idea if its true, hence "per reports"
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) June 13, 2017
went back and looked before, not there. deleted?
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) June 13, 2017
Later, Brown cited a tweet from a self-described "world's top celebrity expert" as evidence.
7am this morning FYI, there were a few of them going around: pic.twitter.com/8bZUYz6vsT
— Downtown Josh Brown (@ReformedBroker) June 13, 2017
But that tweet was sent at 8:00 a.m. ET while Brown's message was sent at 7:10 a.m. ET, making it impossible for it to have been Brown's source.
Despite the lack of attribution, sports and politics websites seized on Brown's tweet and ran with it. The New York Daily News, New York Magazine, Vogue, and Newsweek all spread the story.
Some outlets treated the story as merely a rumor, but others did not. NBC Sports reported simply that the "Warriors will skip White House visit," while the Independent reported that the "NBA Champions Golden State [sic] unanimously decide they will not be visiting White House."
Liberals on Twitter got in on the act as well, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.).
The @Warriors' leadership is inspiring. I'd be honored to welcome the team to the U.S. Capitol. #DubNation
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) June 13, 2017
The Golden State Warriors voted unanimously to skip their entire visit to Donald Trump's White House.
As woke as any team in sports.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) June 13, 2017
Retweet if u agree the Warriors shouldn't visit the Trump White House-instead they should meet with @BarackObama 😎🇺🇸https://t.co/OUpR639CKd
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) June 13, 2017
On cue, Pete Souza trolls Trump again—following reports the Golden State Warriors voted unanimously to not visit the White House. pic.twitter.com/JH8o0r6Cm4
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2017
The Warriors themselves seemed to finally put the issue to rest, sending out a press release saying the team had not even been invited to the White House yet and would make a decision once they had.
Warriors say they haven't received an invitation from the White House, but will decide when and if necessary on whether they'll go or not. pic.twitter.com/iRoAyfDfBh
— KPIX 5 (@CBSSF) June 13, 2017