The Pennsylvania Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (PA DSCC) on Wednesday defended State Senator Jimmy Dillon (D-Philadelphia) after Republicans accused him of authoring racist and homophobic posts to the social media platform now known as X, but then known as Twitter, between 2011 and 2015.
Dillon is accused by the Pennsylvania Republican Senate Campaign Committee (PA RSCC) of authoring posts published by a now-deleted account associated with the Hoops 24-7 Basketball Academy the state senator continues to direct, including posts that used slurs targeting black people and made derisive comments about gay and Asian people.
“Let’s be clear, this was not a teenager making a mistake or a single comment taken out of context,” said a PA RSCC spokesman on Tuesday. “This was a grown man in his 30s casually using the n-word and making disgusting jokes repeatedly on his social media.”
“Need that n**** on the board for the facility .. Big Hoops 365 meeting on a Friday night,” the account allegedly associated with Dillon wrote in one 2012 post. In a second post published three years later, the author wrote, “there is no shot their goalie doesn’t get the Chinese torture treatment when she has to swim home from Canada.”
— PA Senate Republican Campaign Committee (@PA_SRCC) September 24, 2024
The Republicans called for the PA DSCC to condemn the remarks, but Democrats have maintained Dillon did not write the posts.
Brittany Crampsie, a DSCC spokesman, reportedly told NBC 10 Philadelphia that Dillon’s “record speaks for itself.”
Crampsie told the outlet that the lawmaker “has been a strong advocate and consistent vote in support of Black and LGBTQ Pennsylvanians. He has nurtured and trained young people from all backgrounds his entire career. Distasteful tweets from more than a decade ago written by someone else don’t change that.”
The statement came after Dillon suggested a basketball player he coached was responsible for the racist posts the day before.
“I’m not a big social media guy. If a basketball player who works with Hoops 24-7 posted something like this more than a decade ago, it’s the first I’ve heard about it, and it doesn’t reflect my values,” Dillon told ABC 27 News. He pivoted, “My focus has been and will continue to be standing up to MAGA extremists and protecting women’s reproductive rights.”
Dillon has an outstanding arrest warrant in New Jersey after he allegedly failed to pay traffic offense fines or appear in court.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jimmy Dillon” by Jimmy Dillon.
