Twitter Talks Rodney King ,Other Events That Would've Broke The Network

Source: ROBERT SULLIVAN / Getty

The 1990s had some of the most explosive media events to ever occur in American history, and that includes the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the LAPD’s violent assault of Rodney King. A Twitter user posed the question of what events from that era would have had the social media network abuzz and King’s name began trending. Late Monday night (March 14), @YallLuvCris posted the question, “If Twitter were around in the 90s, name a famous event/moment that definitely would’ve had the TL in shambles.”

The question began making its rounds around the timeline with some replying that the O.J. Simpson murder trial, President Bill Clinton’s scandal in connection to Monica Lewinsky, and the Oklahoma City bombing among other stirring moments of history. However, the incident involving King was universally mentioned in droves. For context, the 1992 Los Angeles riots were a number of clashes between citizens and the police that took place in the region between April and May of that year. The uprising began in Los Angeles’ South Central Los Angeles on April 29, this after a jury acquitted the four LAPD officers who savagely beat Rodney King. The video of the incident made its way to national news broadcasts after a bystander videotaped the entire affair. However, there might be another reason for King’s name trending after the @MoorInformation account posted the tweet below, with some saying this is the real spark for the riots, not King.

Other moments that Twitter mentioned include the tragic Columbine shooting, the Waco, Texas raid, Mike Tyson taking a bite out of Evander Holyfield’s ear, and the shooting deaths of Hip-Hop icons The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac. Since the tweet went up, there’s been a lot of engagement since then and we’ve got some of the reactions below. — Photo: Getty