Alexander Mattison spoke for the first time since receiving horrific, racist messages after last Thursday’s Vikings loss, saying: “It’s amazing to see a lot of people show love and support through a time like that.”
Late last week, Mattison posted screenshots of direct messages he received in the wake of the Vikings loss, saying overall he received 60 vulgar messages.
“It’s something that no one deserves to go through and I just want to make sure to bring that to light,” Mattison said on Monday. “For those who might be sitting back and dealing with stuff, I’m advocating for those people because I know it goes on a lot more.
“This isn’t the first instance, this probably won’t be the last, sadly. I’m definitely letting people know this goes on and this is something we have to deal with. This is something that needs to stop and something that people shouldn’t be dealing with.”
On how his teammates have reacted, Mattison responded: “A lot of love and support. You know, disgust. It’s definitely one of those things that a lot of guys probably weren’t even aware of. Had a couple of teammates that didn’t know what was going on, didn’t know that that was happening and voiced that they were upset to see that as well.”
Mattison credited a chat with Vikings fullback CJ Ham on the team plane with giving him the confidence to go public with the messages he received.
“It was challenging,” Mattison said. “There was a moment sitting on the plane, I was talking with my guy CJ Ham, talking about the game, because it was a frustrating loss that we were dealing with, and then dealing with stuff like that in a moment when you’re down. Kick me while I’m down. It was one of those situations where I realized that I have been able to find my voice over the past few years with a lot of different issues and a lot of different things, going through my own mental health journey.
“Understanding there are a lot of different people out there that are either dealing with worse or something similar that may not have the voice or haven’t found their voice yet. To be able to do that was really the main reason to make sure that everyone understands. There’s a lot of fantasy football people out there and they think that it’s all fun and games. We have families, we have people that love us, people that we’re doing this for. Not a fantasy, this is real life.”
#Vikings RB @AlexMattison22 spoke publicly today for the first time since getting racist and vulgar messages on social media after last Thursday’s loss at Philadelphia.
He says a conversation with @cjham28 convinced him to go public with the messages he was getting. @FOX9 pic.twitter.com/oCEBnpwZLD
— Jeff Wald (@JeffWaldFox9) September 18, 2023
“Means a lot. Especially coming from my teammates, this organization, my family,” continued Mattison about the support he’s received since going public.
“It does mean a lot. None of this was for attention. None of this was for pity. It was to bring awareness, to bring to light something that happens way too much.”
Both the Minnesota Vikings and NFL condemned the comments sent to Mattison in the wake of Thursday’s loss.
— NFL (@NFL) September 15, 2023
