Derrick Rose Apologizes for Telling Doubters to 'Kill Yourself'

On Monday, Derrick Rose apologized after telling people who think he won't play the same way now that Tom Thibodeau's been fired to kill themselves.

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derrick rose

During a Monday afternoon press conference, Derrick Rose was asked about the Timberwolves' firing of Tom Thibodeau, who (as you almost certainly know) also coached Rose for five seasons in Chicago. Rose's answer started out in the same way that most athlete cliches before getting pretty dark in the final few words. Here, read for yourself courtesy of Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter Chris Hine's Twitter feed:

Here's Rose, on how he goes forward w/out Thibs: "I have a lot of confidence in myself. Thibs was just the coach that believed in me. He jump-started my career again and for that I'll always be thankful, but for everybody that think that it's going to stop, kill yourself."

— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) January 7, 2019

As per Hine, Rose told his skeptics to "kill" themselves again if they don't believe he's going to keep playing the same way he's been playing:

Later in the session, Rose also used that phrasing again: "Like I said, for everybody that think I'm not going to play the same way, kill yourself, because I believe in myself."

— Chris Hine (@ChristopherHine) January 7, 2019

Here's a clip of the latter remarks from ESPN's Malika Andrews:

Derrick Rose reflects on Thibs: “He was the only coach that believed in me... No teams wasn’t looking for me at all. I was basically out the league. Even coming here, everybody didn’t know I was going to play this way.” pic.twitter.com/IUTz7tEUPn

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) January 7, 2019

If you've consumed enough sports/celebrity content, you know where this goes from here. Shortly after Rose spoke to the media he took to Twitter to apologize, saying it wasn't meant literally:

I messed up by using the slang term “kill yourself” today in response to a question about whether I can continue to perform without coach Thibs. I did not mean it literally and regret using it so I apologize.

— DZY (@drose) January 7, 2019

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