How a hasty social media post ruined a college career
Mone Davis, trashed on Twitter, asks us to forgive the perp
THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Little League sensation Mo'ne Davis took the high road yesterday by publicly forgiving a young man who insulted her on the Internet.
Joey Casselberry, a/k/a @Big Cass24, is no longer on Twitter, but posted last week: "Disney is making a movie about Mo'ne Davis? WHAT A JOKE. That slut got rocked by Nevada."
Casselberry, a junior and first baseman for the Bloomsburg University Huskies, was bounced from the team over the weekend after college president David L. Soltz said he was "deeply saddened" by the offensive tweet. Bloomsburg University is in Columbia County, about 80 miles north of Harrisburg.
Casselberry was off Twitter by Saturday night, but not before he apologized, writing, "Forgive me and truly understand that I am in no way, shape or form a sexist and I am a huge fan of Mo'ne. She was quite an inspiration."
In a letter written to Soltz, Davis asked the head of the university to reconsider the dismissal.
"He made a dumb mistake," she wrote. "I'm sure he would go back and change it if he could. We all make mistakes and deserve to be forgiven. I hope you will give him a second chance and allow him to play."
But Tom McGuire, director of sports information for Bloomsburg, said there's no chance.
"Her request does show a level of empathy and maturity well beyond her years," he told me. "But despite Mo'ne Davis' request to the president, we need to stand firm on our decision."
The young Little League World Series champ is in talks with Disney on producing a movie about her.
City Paper's new look
Philadelphia's City Paper got a makeover.
"We call it our grown-up look," said editor in chief Lillian Swanson. "It's our first major redesign since 2009, and just about everything has changed since then."
The paper is taking a page from newspaper history with one change: a full-page color comic. Swanson plans to invite different local comic artists each week to showcase their talents.
She said the new look hearkens back to newspaper styles from the 1800s, before modern papers had to shrink in size and cut their comics pages.
"What we're doing goes against the grain," Swanson said. "And that, of course, is what an alternative newspaper should do."
Wedding bells for Philly fashion favorite
Longtime People Paper celebrity fashion stylist Anthony Henderson and his partner, Jason Strong, have adopted a 4-year-old son, Marcelino.
Henderson, a native of Germantown, has worked with our own Jenice Armstrong for more than a decade during Sexy Singles season.
He and Strong plan to marry Saturday at a Macy's-sponsored LGBT expo in Los Angeles. They're planning a Philadelphia reception in July, which will mark their 10th anniversary as a couple.
The pair and their son recently appeared in an Ad Council video that went viral called "Love Has No Labels." In it, several couples of varying colors, creeds and backgrounds appear as skeletons dancing behind a screen before revealing themselves in an effort to prove that love has no gender.