Sports fans often feel invested in the performance of their favorite team or even how an athlete’s play. While teams like the Steelers love having passionate fans and love how much their fans care, there can also be a very dark side to that passion, which apparently became evident for the family of wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster recently.
Sammy Toa-Schuster, the 24-year-old receiver’s mother, said she was forced to endure a slew of evil messages and death threats as her son was was being criticized all last week for dancing on the logos of opponents’ home fields while the team was in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
She expressed her happiness and emotions when her son scored what would end up being the game winning touchdown to beat the Colts on Sunday.
“I capture this moment after my sons touchdown because this is my real emotions,” Toa-Schuster wrote on Instagram. “After weeks of so many hate messages to death threats … I can’t help but cry when my baby scored his TD. Y’all love him when we winning, but hate him when we are losing.
“Please remember when y’all are sending me these hate messages …. you also have a child that I pray you will never have a grown ass adult send his mother hate messages.”
Smith-Schuster did not dance on Heinz Field prior to the game, and said in the week leading up to the game that he would stop dancing, as it had become a distraction. Instead, he and his teammates celebrated their AFC North title with a TikTok dance video in the locker room.