When it comes to getting into trouble, it seems to happen to some more than others. And sometimes, that person brings it all on himself.
On Tuesday, Florida State quarterback and current Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston decided to make a fool of himself by standing up on a table in front of a large group of students and shout vulgar obscenities of a sexual nature to mimic a popular Internet trend. After his crude and ignorant outburst, other students flooded Twitter by tweeting what they just witnessed.
Because of his latest outrageous off-the-field act, Winston has been suspended for the first half of Saturday night’s game against Clemson.
Needless to say, Florida State officials and administrators were not happy about the incident.
Both FSU interim president Garnett S. Stokes and athletic director Stan Wilcox deemed Winston’s outburst as “offensive and vulgar”. Jointly, the two released a statement regarding the punishment:
Photo source: Instagram
“As the university’s most visible ambassadors, student-athletes at Florida State are expected to uphold at all times high standards of integrity and behavior that reflect well upon themselves, their families, coaches, teammates, the department of athletics and Florida State University. Student-athletes are expected to act in a way that reflects dignity and respect for others.”
Afterwards, in a scene we’re becoming all too familiar with, Winston apologized for his “selfish act”.
“First of all, I want to apologize to the university, my coaches and to my teammates,” Winston said. “I’m not a ‘me’ person, but in that situation, it was a selfish act, and that’s not how you do things around here. I want to apologize to my teammates because I have now made a selfish act for them. That’s all.
“You’ve got to overcome adversity — and that’s one thing at Florida State we do,” Winston continued. “We’re gonna overcome adversity. And when I do get my opportunity to play, I’ll do everything I can. That’s what eats me up. I wanna be on the field. I did something, and I gotta accept my consequences. … It eats me alive. I can’t carry myself that way.”
Winston’s head coach, Jimbo Fisher, was not thrilled as well as he spoke during Wednesday’s ACC teleconference.
“It was not a good decision,” the head coach said. “You can’t make certain statements that are derogatory or inflammatory to any person, race or gender. You have to understand that. You have to be very intelligent about what you say, [because] it matters.”
Fisher, who discussed the incident with Winston on Tuesday, said, “You don’t ever want any kind of instances, but we have to keep learning and educating, we have to make better decisions, we have to make good decisions on things. And we’ll try to continue to do that and try to educate.
“The statements … you make are always going to be more public than statements that other individuals make. That’s just the nature of the business, of who you are and what you are.”
When the No. 1 Seminoles host No. 22 Clemson on Saturday night, it will be sophomore Sean Maguire who gets the start. During his career, Maguire has only played in mop-up duty completing 16 of 26 passes.
In 2013, Winston was investigated for sexual assault but the state attorney, Willie Meggs, did not choose to bring charges. However, at the current time, Florida State is still performing their own Title IX investigation.
Jameis Winston was also ordered to perform 20 hours of community service after being caught stealing $32 of crab legs from a grocery store. There have also been other run-ins with the law but no arrests.