Kenny Stills gets death threats, doesn’t back down

Preston Williams, the undrafted free agent that our Chris Kouffman (@CKParrot) told you all about on the day he signed, was the star of the Dolphins’ 34-27 win in their preseason opener.

But that’s not the receiver everyone ran to first in the Dolphins locker room.

That, naturally, was Kenny Stills, after the outspoken community activist tweeted this Wednesday evening about the Dolphins owner Steve Ross.

🤔 You can’t have a non profit with this mission statement then open your doors to Trump. https://t.co/sNBWfEXvLn pic.twitter.com/nNkRf2wJep

— Kenny Stills (@KSTiLLS) August 7, 2019

That tweet went viral, and so did the related story. Ross released his own statement afterwards, but it wasn’t especially well received.

Statement from Stephen Ross: pic.twitter.com/nvn3pmAPVE

— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) August 7, 2019

How can you own a football team w/many black payers, in Miami -city of immigrants, Hispanics, blacks- and be hosting a fundraiser for racist-in-chief? I’d like to say my famIly will boycott, but my hubby’s a loyal masochist Dolphins fan, no matter what. https://t.co/tFxPMXTydh

— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) August 7, 2019

Stills wasn’t impressed either, apparently.

Kenny Stills On Steve Ross doing good work on race issues but holding a fundraiser for Trump: “It just didn’t make sense. So I was more confused and baffled.”

— Five Reasons Sports Network (@5ReasonsSports) August 9, 2019

Stills addressed the media for roughly 10 minutes, taking every question. He said he did not want to be a distraction, and he had spoken to coach Brian Flores about it.

More from @kstills tonight pic.twitter.com/wF0JzEYETo

— Five Reasons Sports Network (@5ReasonsSports) August 9, 2019

More from Kenny Stills on whether he has talked to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. pic.twitter.com/jKOyDYRs5l

— Will Manso (@WillMansoWPLG) August 9, 2019

Flores had his own view on it.

Brian Flores on Kenny Stills comments about Steve Ross: “I asked him why he didn’t talk to (Ross) before putting something out. That’s something we’ve got to do more of.”

— Dave Hyde (@davehydesports) August 9, 2019

Well, something we need to do more of in a society is not threaten someone’s life for speaking out.

This, unfortunately, wasn’t especially shocking.

Kenny Stills says he’s received “five to 10” death threats on social media in the last 24 hours.

— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) August 9, 2019

Stills has trade value, but he made it clear he doesn’t want to leave the Dolphins. This seems like it may be just a two-day story, but it’s a story that shows how polarized Dolphins fans are politically. For some reason, the view of Stills  as a player is affected by how a fan feels about the president. Even though Stills does more work in the community than just about any active athlete in South Florida, with people of all races. 

I’m just amazed at the amount of Dolphin fans that dislike Kenny Stills. Dude has been and continues to be a great role model that does a lot of the South Florida community. I love the fact that he isn’t shy about calling people out about certain issues, including Stephen Ross.

— Antwan V. Staley (@antwanstaley) August 7, 2019