Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers recently became the center of an odd controversy when fans noticed that he had liked a string of sexually explicit tweets.
Doc Rivers going absolutely crazy on Twitter this summer. pic.twitter.com/AnYdRexyVB
— Philly’s Phinest Beercan (@BeercanBrain) September 17, 2022
At first, many assumed that Rivers liking those tweets was merely a product of the 60-year-old coach not knowing that liked tweets are public on a Twitter user’s profile page.
As it turns out, the apparent truth is quite a bit stranger. According to a recent report, Rivers’ Twitter page was actually hacked, and Rivers didn’t know about the situation until a friend told him about the likes popping up on his page.
Luckily, it looks like the 76ers organization was able to undo the likes.
I’m told Doc Rivers’ Twitter account was hacked and the Sixers were able to undo the likes and they are getting his account back to full working order
Doc was informed by a friend about the bizarre activity on his account and it is being taken care of by the team pic.twitter.com/Srwg0EN2Wv
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) September 17, 2022
When it comes to social media, celebrities getting hacked is not all that rare. However, there have been times that celebrities have claimed that they got hacked, but fans on social media didn’t believe them.
Funnily enough, a previous instance of this loosely involved Rivers himself just last summer. In June of 2021, sports pundit Jay Williams tweeted out that Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka was the first “head coach of color” for the organization.
When countless fans poured into the comments section to remind Williams that Rivers and a number of other Black coaches not only coached the Celtics, but also won championships with them, Williams claimed his account had been hacked.
Please tell me this isn’t real Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams). Ime Udoka is the 6th #Celtics “head coach of color”; including champions Bill Russell (1st black NBA head coach), K.C. Jones & Doc Rivers. A third of all of head coaches in franchise history are men of color. ☘️ pic.twitter.com/WYJC6Unqja
— Dan Kelley (@DanKelley66) June 23, 2021
As it relates to the Boston Celtics tweet that came from my account a couple of hours ago… I did not post that & my passcode has now been changed.
— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) June 23, 2021
Obviously, the two situations are very different, but it goes to show fans just how much trouble individuals can get into on social media.
As for Rivers himself, he’s surely hoping that this will be the only major distraction for the 76ers this season. Last season, the Sixers dealt with mountains of drama related to Ben Simmons.
While they were ultimately able to trade Simmons away and land star James Harden in the process, it didn’t help them much in their pursuit of a championship.
Once again, the 76ers fell well short of even advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, a feat they have not managed to accomplish since 2001.
