Long before Drake got his praying hands ink, Atlanta Hawks forward Mike Scott was nabbing headlines for his vast and occasionally ridiculed collection of emoji tattoos. From his smiley faces and that dancing woman in a red dress to the kiss-y lips emoji, Scott has had many people wondering why he chose to have about 85 percent of his ink collection stem from a silly app.
Are they a personal statement? Or a joke? Or are the emoji tats some deep commentary on the visual language of the Internet?
Well today, we finally have an answer, thanks to a Mashable interview in which Scott explains the reason for his emoji tattoos and his thoughts on people’s reaction towards them. Below are some highlights from the interview, but you should definitely read the full piece when you have the time.
"What was the first emoji tattoo you got and when did you get it?
My first emoji tattoo was after after my rookie year, that summer [in 2013], going into my sophomore year. They were on top of my shoulder, the orange mean face emoji, then the purple devil face emoji.
Do you get many comments on the court from other players?
Actually just the other day — Vince Carter. I have that lips emoji on my neck and he was asking me during the game if that was a specific lady's lips or whose lips or what. I said 'No, it's no one's lips. It's just the emoji lips.'
So why emojis? I'd never really seen emoji tattoos before yours.
The story behind it is I just use emojis a lot when I text. It's me; it's original. People are doing it now, but no one else had it before I started getting into it. I dunno—I guess I started the trend. It's a trend I see now but for sure no one had it when I started.
Sometimes they say what you can't say. They can express the words that you can't say about how you feel. You can do a whole conversation just using emojis and people will understand. I actually do that a lot.
What was your most recent emoji tattoo?
I just got six more, about a week and a half or two weeks ago, along my shoulders. I posted a photo on Instagram. Those six are my latest.
What's the one emoji that doesn't exist that you think is missing?
They definitely need a middle finger emoji. I can't think of many others but that's definitely one I'd like to use for a couple people.
Do you welcome [Drake] to the emoji tat game or do you feel like he's biting off your style a little too much?
[Laughs] I don't even have that emoji, so I don't feel like it's copying. I don't feel like it's copying. At this point it's just like, 'Everybody join! Everybody get them!'"
[via Mashable]
