Gatorade Apologizes for LeBron James-Related Tweets

As LeBron James was losing a battle against debilitating muscle cramps, because he is, after all, a human and not a cyborg, energy-drink-maker Gatorade was getting all trolly with the King during the game. Or, at least whoever runs the Gatorade Twitter account was. Because they were laying it on...

By Chris Joseph

June 6, 2014

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As LeBron James was losing a battle against debilitating muscle cramps, because he is, after all, a human and not a cyborg, energy-drink-maker Gatorade was getting all trolly with the King during the game.

Or, at least whoever runs the Gatorade Twitter account was.

Because they were laying it on pretty thick, even as LeBron was being carried off to the bench.

On Friday, Gatorade the company issued an apology for the tweets. Though not directly to LeBron, nor via its Twitter account.

At news of the AT&T Center's air-conditioner unit malfunctioning, Gatorade decided to do that thing that companies do and market the crap out of the situation:

With a game this hot, we're right at home. #WinFromWithin #NBAFinals
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014

But as LeBron's cramps began forcing him out of the game, the Gatorade Twitter decided to take it up a notch and troll not only James but also its rival Powerade, which is the energy drink LeBron endorses.

@ryanbkoo The person cramping wasn't our client. Our athletes can take the heat.
— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014

Body Armor got in on the action too, trolling Gatorade by pointing out that LeBron was actually drinking Gatorade to help his cramps (which, obviously, didn't work):

.@Gatorade @LazyBumDrew Hmmm... are you sure @KingJames wasn't drinking Gatorade last night?? #UpgradeYourSportsDrink pic.twitter.com/UwGZE3qaH5
— BODYARMOR SuperDrink (@DrinkBODYARMOR) June 6, 2014

Gatorade, realizing that it is partners with the NBA (as well as LeBron's teammate, Dwyane Wade), has since deleted the tweets about LeBron and issued a statement apologizing for them.

''Our apologies for our response to fans' tweets during (Thursday) night's Heat vs. Spurs game,'' Gatorade said in a news release. ''We got caught up in the heat of the battle. As a longtime partner of the Miami Heat, we support the entire team.''

Gatorade issues apology for last night's anti-LeBron tweets (tho if you click replies, right now tweets are still up) pic.twitter.com/iYrZzylNgv
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 6, 2014

LeBron was asked Friday about the whole incident:

LeBron won't refer to Gatorade by name.... "I'm not going to give them light in the Finals."
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) June 6, 2014

LeBron on Gatorade: "I don't' care. The drink group...I'm not even going to say their name."
— Joseph Goodman (@JoeGoodmanJr) June 6, 2014

Meanwhile, as we wrote about earlier, the story of Game 1 of these Finals has been the temperature and LeBron's cramping.

And, predictably, Heat haters the world over have been ripping the four-time MVP, multiple gold-medal-winning, dual Finals MVP and back-to-back NBA champion/greatest basketball player on the planet and his not being able to withstand muscle cramps like any normal human person.

Except Michael Jordan, of course.

He NEVER begged out of a game in the Finals over cramps. Except that one time when he did.

Well, well, well, @Gatorade uses brominated vegetable oil in it's sports drinks. One of the side effects? CRAMPING. You remove it yet?
— FinzZombie (@HeatZombie) June 6, 2014

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