Utah Jazz apologize after tweeting photo of fan donning blackface to recreate Karl Malone pose

The Utah Jazz has been forced to apologize after seemingly endorsing a fan who donned blackface to dress up as former star player Karl Malone.

The team's Twitter account retweeted an image on Sunday depicting two fans recreating a photo of Malone and his teammate John Stockton, adding: "Can anyone top this Halloween costume?"

The tweet was originally sent by Tyler Christensen from Logan, Utah and compares an image of him and his friend in costume with the original image of the Hall of Fame duo.

"We tried our best to recreate the dynamic duo! #stocktontomalone #utahjazz #themailman," Christensen wrote, tweeting the message at the Utah Jazz and ESPN accounts.

@espn @utahjazz we tried our best to recreate the dynamic duo! #stocktontomalone #utahjazz #themailman pic.twitter.com/FcLts6P7Lm
— Tyler Christensen (@TCritty25) October 27, 2013

After the Utah Jazz account retweeted the image in an apparent endorsement of the fans' use of blackface, it came under fire —  and the tweet was promptly removed, Deadspin first reported.

Some readers branded it 'offensive', while others lamented at how Halloween revelers choose to use blackface every year, despite the controversy it causes.

"We apologize for the last retweet/tweet moments ago," the Jazz account read minutes later on Sunday afternoon. "We have taken it down as it may be insensitive."

A Jazz spokesperson added: "Within minutes we realized the error, we deleted the Tweet and apologized to our followers."

We apologize for the last retweet/tweet moments ago, we have taken it down as it may be insensitive.
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 27, 2013

St. John's Gets Verbal Agreement From Top Forward Ricardo Gathers

St. John's head coach Steve Lavin hasn't let up in his quest to become the best college basketball recruiter in the nation.  Yesterday, Ricardo Gathers of Reserve, La., who was named 2011 Louisiana Mr. Basketball, gave a verbal commitment to play for the Red Storm.

Gathers, a 6-foot-7, 240 pound power forward whom his AAU coach, Scooter Owens,  called a cross between Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, chose the Red Storm over LSU, Baylor, Oregon, Kansas, Syracuse, California and Connecticut.

According to Rivals.com, the man-child Gathers is the 43rd top-rated player in his class and the 11th rated power forward.

The four-star recruit led his team, the Rebels, to their second straight Class A State Championship and has numerous videos on YouTube highlighting his thunderous slams.  Gathers has been called the most powerful dunker in high school.

Gathers is a man among boys.  He averaged 20.7 points, 16.2 rebounds and 3.9 blocked shots last season.

Lavin scored a big-time coup in getting the agreement from the highly-recruited Gathers.  The St. John's head coach, who is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer,  had the third-ranked recruiting class for the upcoming season.  Gathers is another major coup for Lavin in only his second year in New York.

"I picked St. John's because of the coaching staff," said Gathers. "I liked the way coach Lavin communicated with me throughout the process."

The senior broke a lot of hearts when he didn't pick local school LSU.

"I can't wait to play in New York," said Gathers.  "Watching the movie 'He Got Game' got me really excited about playing there."

Maybe Lavin should send videos of the Spike Lee to all future recruits.