A Democratic state senator in Pennsylvania has denied making social media posts, which contained slurs targeting black, Asian, and gay people, after they were unearthed by the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee (PA SRCC) on Tuesday.
State Senator Jimmy Dillon (D-Philadelphia) has denied authoring posts published to the @Hoops24_7 account on X, between 2011 and 2015, when the platform was called Twitter.
The social media account behind the posts, which are now deleted, appears to be associated with the Hoops 24-7 Basketball Academy where a Pennsylvania State Senate biography states Dillon (pictured above) continues to serve as the director.
“Need that n**** on the board for the facility .. Big Hoops 365 meeting on a Friday night,” the account wrote in one post, using a slur against black people.
In another post, the account wrote, “Dudes from Gtown didn’t know one of them Chinese dudes dad was Mr. Miaggi,” and in a third instructed another person to “tell him to stop being gay and take off work to come party with us.”
The most recent post highlighted by the SRCC was written in 2015, when the account published a tweet containing the message, “I know it’s Japan, but there is no shot their goalie doesn’t get the Chinese torture treatment when she has to swim home from Canada #GoUSA.”
In a press release, SRCC Executive Director Cody Harbaugh claimed Dillon authored the posts and called them “unsettling.”
🚨 Attention 🚨
PA SRCC condemns Jimmy Dillon for these disgusting slurs and insults towards minorities. We call on @PaSDCC and Senate Minority Leader @JayCostaPA to repudiate Jimmy Dillon and these tweets as well. The tweets are in the following posts below. pic.twitter.com/Zflv2Jm01g
— PA Senate Republican Campaign Committee (@PA_SRCC) September 24, 2024
“Let’s be clear, this was not a teenager making a mistake or a single comment taken out of context,” Harbaugh stated. “This was a grown man in his 30s casually using the n-word and making disgusting jokes repeatedly on his social media.”
Harbaugh added, “We can only wonder what Jimmy Dillon is saying behind closed doors if this is the kind of disgusting language he’ll post on his social media for the world to see.”
The PA SRCC called for swift condemnations from Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny County) and the Senate Democrat Campaign Committee for the “vile slurs and remarks.”
In a statement to ABC 27 News, Dillon denied writing the posts and suggested they could have been authored by a youth he previously coached.
“I’m not a big social media guy. If a basketball player who works with Hoops 24-7 posted something like this more than a decade ago, it’s the first I’ve heard about it, and it doesn’t reflect my values,” Dillon told the outlet. “My focus has been and will continue to be standing up to MAGA extremists and protecting women’s reproductive rights.”
It was reported earlier this month that Dillon is currently subject to an outstanding arrest warrant in New Jersey for allegedly failing to pay traffic offense fines or appear in court.
Dillon first entered office in 2023 after winning his 2022 election by 13 points. He will face Republican Joe Picozzi in November.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Pennsylvania Capitol” by Dough4872. CC BY-SA 4.0.
