Ryan Laplante under fire for using racial epithets over the years

[Dan Druff]

Druff's Note: Upon more information coming to light, I have edited this post and changed some of my opinions. Initially I believed this was a one-off incident from many years ago, but now that I see Ryan has a problem with spouting off racial epithets in chats, I can understand people calling him a hypocrite and racist.

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Ryan Laplante was one of the first openly gay male poker pros. He's a good tournament player with a bracelet and a shitload of cashes. He's 31 years old, and is one of those dudes who plays an insane WSOP schedule where he's basically in an event at every moment of every day. (I could never handle a tournament schedule like that, but I'm also a lot older than he is, so that's probably part of it.)

He used to listen to PFA Radio every single week, but he quit a number of years ago for unknown reasons (possibly due to political differences?) He's very far left and is somewhat of an SJW, so suffice to say that we disagree on nearly all political and social issues. With that said, my opinion of him was mostly positive. He has always called out bad actors in poker (including poker sites), has never been involved in any kind of scam accusations, and generally seemed like a solid guy. We tend to agree when it comes to issues within poker, and disagree about everything else.

Ryan is also the founder of that "Rainbow Flops" group mentioned before on PFA, which at one point Willie claimed that PLOL left PFA under pressure from them. (PLOL denies this, by the way.)

It has come out that Laplante used the N-word in the past, and he has admitted to this.

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/Protentialmn/status/1287890219253944320

7 years ago, in a fit of rage on 2+2 forums, I called someone the N word.


My reasons for doing and my intent in it are irrelevant, it is something that should never be used in any context, and it was deeply wrong for me to do so.

I’ve tried my best to make amends for that use, but I know that I will regret my use of that language for the rest of my life.

I’m not posting this to lessen the impact that I used it.

This post is simply an apology to everyone who has ever been discriminated against, especially those who have faced hate due to racism.

I am extremely sorry for how I acted and my use of that word. It is something I am deeply ashamed of doing.

I'm not sure about the "7 years ago" incident, but Shaun Deeb found this one from 2010:

xxgrinder1tmxx (12:50:53 AM): other day you said n-word are scum or something, thats really dangerous
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:50:59 AM): i dont think you meant it but you come off racist
protential (12:50:59 AM): noooo
protential (12:51:03 AM): i said
protential (12:51:09 AM): guys like isux at poker
protential (12:51:11 AM): were scum
protential (12:51:13 AM): and thus n-word
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:51:17 AM): but you see
protential (12:51:18 AM): when i say the N bomb
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:51:18 AM): that comes off
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:51:20 AM): as n-word being scum'
protential (12:51:21 AM): i dont mean black
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:51:25 AM): yeah but everyone thinks you fdo
protential (12:51:35 AM): they'z be ignant
protential (12:51:46 AM): i mean the original meaning of it
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:52:00 AM): yeah i get what you mean but still
protential (12:52:01 AM): which is stupid, 2nd class, ignorant, illiterate
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:52:03 AM): n-word are black peopl
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:52:04 AM): elol
protential (12:52:08 AM): naaa
protential (12:52:13 AM): niggess come in all colors
protential (12:52:22 AM): mostly white
protential (12:52:41 AM): i spentm y summers in an all black neighborhood growing up
xxgrinder1tmxx (12:52:45 AM): still, it comes off really poorly
protential (12:52:47 AM): in a large american city

Source: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...8&postcount=33


Anyway, Twitter is none too happy with Ryan, and people are basically telling him he's a scumbag racist hypocrite.

While at first I was mostly on Ryan's side because it appeared to be a case of cancel culture going after someone for a youthful mistake, now it appears that Ryan has used that epithet multiple times over the years. Therefore, the anger at him is justified, especially given the SJW positions he takes on social media.

[Dan Druff]

By the way, this all came out because Laplante called out Twitch streamer "pokerguru740" for using the word "idiotic" on his stream.

Someone dug up the Laplante N-word stuff, and it all degraded from there. From that point of view, I understand how this can look pretty bad for Ryan, and why he should consider in the future whether he wants to be the social media language police.

It appears Ryan has since deleted that tweet calling out pokerguru, but there's still this remnant of it:

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/Protentialmn/status/1287789849995436032

I still don't feel Ryan should be canceled though.

[mulva]

lotz of faggotry going on everywhere these days

[BiffCo99]

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

I have no sympathy for anyone who has initiated or participated in a woke witch hunt and then gets eaten alive by their own kind.

Conservatives need to let them destroy each other and not throw them any lifelines either. They all literally want us wiped off the face of the earth.

[Dan Druff]

Hmmm... maybe my semi-support of Ryan here is a bit premature. Look at this page, again from 10 years ago:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/6...3/index94.html

if i ever get the chance to meet u in real life, pray to god that there isn't a sharp object near buy. because i will castrate you and fuckng make u eat your balls u fucking piece of ni.gger ass mother fucking douchebag. yes i am serious. if there is nothing close buy that is sharp, i will just kick u in the balls so hard and so many times u will bleed out of the worthless excuse of a 2inch flab of skin that u call a penis for the next 3 months.

Kid had some real issues back then.

Also some on Twitter claim he called them racist names over the years, though I find it odd we didn't hear about it until now.

Hmmmmm

[JACKDANIELS]

NOT RYAN LAPLANTE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[SrslySirius]

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/1287988050924978176

[Walter Sobchak]

What's with his hair, is he trying to look like a turnip?

[Dan Druff]

Uh oh

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/Protentialmn/status/797486093054582784

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/BigHuni/status/797486703606898688

[dwai]

who cares about some faggot on twitter, christ

[Dan Druff]

who cares about some idiotic on twitter, christ

He has the 2nd highest number of cashes in this online WSOP (behind Negreanu, who is also in hot water right now for a different reason), so it's worth talking about.

I think my initial assessment of this being "cancel culture" is probably wrong, though. It really does look like Ryan just spouts off racist epithets when he gets pissed.

[mulva]

protential (12:52:13 AM): niggess come in all colors
protential (12:52:22 AM): mostly white