Roland Schoeman tags Elon Musk after SA tweeps say: ‘Don’t come back’

Months after volunteering himself to step in as South Africa’s minister of sport, former Olympic swimmer Roland Schoeman has announced his new status as an official US citizen.

The SA-born swimmer proudly revealed the news in a Twitter post over the weekend. “Today I officially became a U.S. citizen”, he captioned a pic of him with his official documents and miniature US flag.

But whilst many of his followers praised the gold medalist for his new venture in the “land of opportunity”, others bid him “good riddance”.

MIXED REACTIONS FROM SA TWEEPS

Roland Schoeman – who now works as an estate agent in the US after retiring from swimming – faced mixed reactions from tweeps following his announcement.

Some voiced their opinion that the swimmer had found greener pastures.

@greig_dovey: “Best move you could have ever made!”

@ROfnote: “Congratulations. At least there won’t be potholes on their roads, blackouts, broken infrastructure, and a government that only wants for themselves, and not for SA”

Twitter

Others wished him well on his new chapter.

@sandileskhosi: “All the best to you in the land of the free”

@MrSoWhat31: “We wish you well and thanks for everything you did for SA”

Twitter

Then there were those that were annoyed, angry, and some even happy at Roland Schoeman’s decision.

@IamLungile_: “I thought you wanted to be the South African Minister of sports? Wtf?”

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@JanseKristine: “Oh thank god. The more whingers who change their citizenship the better for those of us who just want to work and build SA”

@PaleBee3: “The privilege isn’t privilege-ing anymore in SA?”

@LwandoMjekula: “So now you are officially an African American? Anyway, you were not our best athlete so good riddance”

@NguSinga: “Please stay there and do not come back to South Africa”

@Ben10Rs: “Can you do us a favour by staying there and never come back here”

Twitter

ROLAND SCHOEMAN CLAPS BACK

Following the barrage of Twitter responses, Roland Schoeman decided to clap back at the “haters”.

To one tweep who defended him and claimed he “took his skills elsewhere”, Roland responded: “Incredibly accurate summation”.

To other critics who called him out for being an alleged racist and an “Apartheid beneficiary”, Roland Schoeman tagged Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

He tweeted: “@elonmusk Twitter may very well be the very worst social platform in terms of the interaction some face”.

Roland Schoeman – who was accused of making a racial slur in 2010 – has long supported Elon Musk, who also hails from South Africa.

Last week Elon’s mother Maye Musk slammed New York Times after it claimed the billionaire businessman had benefited from “white privilege”.