Chicago Bulls news: Lolo Jones’ Derrick Rose costume was incredibly offensive

On Friday, professional track and field athlete Lolo Jones used her Instagram account to poke fun of Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose with a series of photos and videos that displayed a costume that she planned to wear for Halloween. Her costume was a low blow directed towards an athlete that has endured numerous setbacks due to injury during his professional career.

Jones’ costume consisted of a face mask, boot, fake facial hair, a Derrick Rose jersey and crutches. Jones used the costume to mock the seventh year point guard who has been injured many times during his career.

In Game 1 of the 2012 Eastern Conference quarter finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, Rose sustained an ACL tear in his left knee which opened up the floodgates for a continuous stream of major injuries in the following years. After missing the entire 2012-2013 season with the ACL injury, Rose tore his right meniscus on November 22, 2013 and missed the rest of the season. During the 2014-2015 season, Rose played in 46 of the first 57 games of the Chicago Bulls regular season before tearing his right meniscus in February. Following the injury he missed 20 games. During the Chicago Bulls first practice of the 2015-2016 season, Rose fractured his left orbital after absorbing an inadvertent elbow from a teammate. He missed most of the preseason but has played in all three of the Chicago Bulls regular season games thus far.

"Tired from the game. A photo posted by Lolo Jones (@lolojones) on Oct 30, 2015 at 10:54pm PDT"

After receiving backlash for these photos, Jones attempted to defend herself on Twitter.

ESPN personality Michael Wilbon dressed up as Derrick Rose in a recent episode of Pardon The Interruption on ESPN. Jones is recovering from an injury, and claimed that she needed the crutches to walk and that they weren’t just part of the costume.

Despite her justifications, there are obvious problems with her Halloween costume. The act of making fun of somebody who is often injured remains a classless move, especially when most of Rose’s injuries were freak accidents that he couldn’t control. Rose’s injuries have curtailed his career and caused him tremendous emotional and physical pain. Why would somebody joke about this especially on a public platform?

Jun 27, 2014; Sacramento, CA, USA; Lolo Jones wins womens 100m hurdles heat in 12.62 in the 2014 USA Championships at Hornet Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports  costume.

Jones’ career has mirrored the career of Rose because both athletes have sustained tremendous setbacks throughout their careers.  Jones won two World Indoor Championship gold medals at Valencia in 2008 and Doha in 2010 in the 60 meter hurdles. However, she never has been able to carry over her indoor success to the outdoor season. She has never won an Olympic or World Outdoor Championship medal. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Jones was the favorite to win the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles. In the final, Jones led the race but clipped the ninth (of ten) hurdles and eventually finished seventh. In 2009, she fell in the qualifying rounds of the United States Outdoor Track and Field Championships and didn’t qualify for the 2009 World Championships. Jones also competed for Team USA in Olympic bobsledding competition. She hasn’t won an Olympic medal in this event either.  A number of injuries have impacted Jones career including the aforementioned leg injury that currently forces her to use crutches.  It is a pessimistic attitude towards Jones’ character, but her costume may have been her latest ploy to grab attention.  In 2012, she stirred up controversy—-and created a media circus around herself—- when she publicly stated that she was a virgin and was waiting for marriage to have sex. 

"It’s just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband. But please understand this journey has been hard. If there’s virgins out there, I just want to let them know, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.  —-Quote obtained by US Weekly writer Nicole Eggenberger"

She’s been known for promoting self-pity online via her twitter and Instagram accounts as well.  In 2014, many people said that the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation only picked Jones for the U.S. Olympic bobsled team to bring headlines to the sport. The previous year, Jones admitted that she only started bobsledding because she wanted to win an Olympic medal. 

"If I won a freakin’ medal — if I won any medal — I would not be a bobsledder,” she said. “Absolutely not. Are you kidding me? No. No! I’m so desperate [for an Olympic medal]. Desperate. It absolutely doesn’t matter .And you know the hard question will be is if I get a medal for bobsled, and I get a medal finally for track, which would I love more? —-Quote obtained by USA Today Sport’s writer Michael Hiestand"

In terms of her presence in the media, Jones had been uncharacteristically absent in 2015. Was the Derrick Rose costume a witty ploy to stir up some controversy and get herself back into the public eye?

Oct 30, 2015; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) straps on his face mask before the game against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Regardless of whether or not Jones’ recent costume was an attention seeking ploy or not, it still was an insensitive attempt to belittle a fellow athlete. It shows a complete lack of respect for Derrick Rose.

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There is a reason that Lolo Jones is one of the only athletes to publicly poke fun at Derrick Rose. Guys like

Lebron James

and other NBA superstars never made fun of Rose despite all his injuries because they respect him and the game of basketball and understand the struggle he has gone through during his career.  Jones needs to apologize for her thoughtless costume. Hopefully once she apologizes, she will return to irrelevance and fade out of the public eye once again. Jones should return to national attention only when she accomplishes something noteworthy. Bullying a fellow athlete for injuries that he can’t control doesn’t count as a noteworthy accomplishment.