Pennsylvania state senator faces backlash over past anti-Asian social media posts

Pennsylvania State Senator Jimmy Dillon is facing backlash over past social media posts from his business account, Hoops 24-7 Basketball Academy. These posts, dating from 2011 to 2015, included racial slurs and homophobic remarks. Some of the now-deleted posts on X include the N-word to refer to a person, telling a porn star to “stop being gay” and posting anti-Asian stereotypes that conflated all Asians as Chinese.

Dillon’s statement: Dillon denied responsibility, claiming others had access to the account. “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,” he said. However, Dillon had posted in the first person on the same account during that time period, including photos and videos of himself. Dillon’s campaign dismissed the revelations as a distraction by “MAGA Republicans,” noting his record as a coach and legislator supporting Black and LGBTQ communities.
Criticisms: The posts were publicized and condemned by the Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC) ahead of Dillon’s bid for a four-year term in the Nov. 5 election, where he faces Republican Joe Picozzi. “Let’s be clear, this was not a teenager making a mistake or a single comment taken out of context. This was a grown man in his 30s casually using the N-word and making disgusting jokes repeatedly on his social media. We can only wonder what Jimmy Dillon is saying behind closed doors if this is the kind of language he’ll post publicly for the world to see,” Cody Harbaugh, the executive director of the SRCC, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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