Things don’t seem to be going well for Eric Lewis. To those who do not know, Lewis is an NBA referee and has recently come into the limelight after news broke out that he was using a Twitter burner account and communicating with fans. While there is nothing illegal in creating fake social media accounts, the fact that Lewis is a senior NBA official and can decide the results of important games is a cause for concern.
After fans found out that he was the one operating the Twitter burner account, it was soon deleted and all traces were removed from the internet. One would assume that means we have no way of deciphering the nature of the messages in it. However, the internet is quite uncontrollable and several people managed to screen record and capture tweets beforehand. Let us take a closer look and better understand what Lewis was doing wrong.
Is Eric Lewis guilty?
That certainly seems to be the question on people’s minds. However, we should first find out what he did wrong to determine whether he will be punished.
Eric Lewis used a burner account and let his feelings run wild while interacting with fans on the internet. This is something that we have seen even NBA stars like Kevin Durant do in the past. Although it is somewhat questionable behavior, there is nothing wrong with an ordinary fan using a secondary account and protecting his\her identity.
The problem in this situation is that Lewis is no ordinary fan. He is a league official and shouldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of doing a good job. However, after discovering his connection and bias towards the Boston Celtics, his actions have turned a lot of heads.
Lakers season started and ended with Eric Lewis reffing games btw pic.twitter.com/PM535Lp1DH https://t.co/sGs3xKzaae
— † (@onlytaron) May 26, 2023
Woke up and still can’t believe Eric Lewis has been defending his calls to Lakers fans with a burner this entire time 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/oNQ6uZdIEB
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) May 27, 2023
From what we can tell about the recorded Tweets, Lewis used an account called “blair cuttliff” to lash out at Tweets mocking or comparing NBA referees. There have certainly been a large amount of them being put forth on the internet in recent times.
NBA referee Eric Lewis used a Twitter burner account to defend his on-court actions & the media narrative against him dozens of times 😂💀@CuttliffBlair (his burner): “Lakers still blaming the refs huh. Y’all played the number 1 team in the NBA & they don’t get any credit 🤦♂️… pic.twitter.com/xWSnYnWLll
— NBA Buzz (@OfficialNBABuzz) May 25, 2023
In any case, the league is conducting an ongoing investigation focused on Eric Lewis. We hope that this matter is soon resolved and that the reputations of other referees are not compromised due to this incident.