LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas basketball guard Zeke Mayo has been the recipient of vile messages, he revealed Saturday on social media.
Mayo, who made a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, shared multiple screenshots of messages that he appears to have received from different social media accounts. The messages either went after his personal health and safety, used racist language or both. Mayo’s post, which came after a 78-73 loss Saturday against No. 10 Texas Tech inside Allen Fieldhouse, shined a light on the vitriol that can come athletes’ ways.
‘I 100% deserve all the criticism in the world,’ Mayo said Saturday in the post on X, which included the screenshots. “My performance was beyond pitiful today, and has been for a while now. I work my (expletive) off everyday to be great, but I can’t be perfect all the time. I’m sorry to our fans and my teammates, I will continue to get better.’
The hateful comments Mayo outlined that he received, after his play in the loss against Texas Tech, have garnered a lot of attention on social media. People around the KU community have shared their support publicly since that took place.
‘These aren’t Jayhawks. They’re not ours,’ Travis Goff, Kansas’ vice chancellor and director of athletics, said in part on X in a post that addressed Mayo’s. ‘Driven by gambling and hate. They’ve never competed a day in their life. To Zeke and all our guys – the Jayhawk family loves you and will always ride with you through thick and thin.’
Dajuan Harris Jr., a teammate of Mayo’s, said in part in his own post on X: ‘It ain’t nothing to explain brotha I got yo back.’
Following the Texas Tech defeat, Kansas (19-10, 10-8 in Big 12 Conference) looks ahead to a road game Monday at No. 4 Houston. After that, there’s a home game next weekend against No. 21 Arizona to finish the regular season.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on X at @JordanGuskey.