During the football season, many stars of the team have weekly press conferences. It’s usually filled with questions about the upcoming games or even questions about the prior week’s games. Cam Newton, Quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, had a press conference and during his press conference, this happened:
*rubs temples and sighs* So…let’s unpack something. In the sports world, there is something called “beat reporting”. Beat reporting, or specialized reporting, in the sports world is in-depth reporting of a certain subject, specialty or in many cases one team. Jourdan Rodrigue is a beat reporter. She is a beat reporter for the Carolina Panthers. She has been doing this for about a year. So, in essence, she has been in the press room for the entire 2016 season with Cam Newton and the staff of the Carolina Panthers. Guess who doesn’t even know her name? Cam Newton.
I get it, Cam, you hate press conferences. Press conferences (or “pressers”) are full of seemingly repetitive questions. That could grow weary. However, it is part of the job of being the face of the franchise (I believe being available to the press is part of the contract that players sign). So, ahem, you have to suck it up and do the pressers. However, what you do not have to do is be condescending to reporters who are doing their jobs.
Ahem, this is the shady part of my take on Cam Newton’s comments where I start calling him every name that begins with “C” (except Cameron):
Listen here, Calvin, you have been ejected from the cookout for quite some time. I understand that it’s lonely out there and you keep smelling the mac and cheese, bbq meats, collard greens, corn bread and all the other deliciousness. I would be sad too. You went from “all lives matter” and “we are all the same” to “say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud” and “Colin should have a job”. I get you’re about face, because you want to be back in and get a plate. Sir, your turnaround on Colin would have gotten you a plate delivered but it still isn’t getting you back in. Your comments just got your plate put back in the fridge.
Saying to a female beat reporter that it’s “funny to hear her ask a question about routes” when it is HER JOB is just downright STUPID, Cleophus. You are an asshat. I guess the good part of the video is that NO ONE was laughing WITH YOU. Man, I would have loved to see a camera pointed at the group of men sitting in that room. I can only imagine the amount of side eye floating around. But now that I think about it, there may have been some men who actually CHUCKLED or at least SMILED at what he said. Now, why would I say something like that. Because of takes likes this:
Let me pause RIGHT HERE about THIS ASSHAT named Michael Rapaport. Ain’t he y’alls fave white boy? This is the SAME dude who berated Colin Kaepernick for kneeling last year but for some odd reason took issue with Donald Trump’s SOB comment and calling for the firing of the same athletes if they knelt. All of a sudden, Michael is FOR kneeling. He sure didn’t feel that way when it was Colin doing it last year. *eyeroll* He just gave one of the ashiest take in the world. He actually compared Jourdan’s tweet to a man going to buy pantyhose. Um, one of these things is a piece of clothing and the other is something related to a PERSON’S JOB!! Like, y’all just keep propping up this guy. Why?! How?! Ugh…
The problem is, there are dudes who feel that men who stand up for women are pandering #forthep. Which sends the message that men are only nice to women if they can get something out of them (which is categorically false…there are ACTUALLY good dudes out there who don’t fit this thinking). I am not naive; there ARE men who only say things to get some cookie, but there are actually good guys out there who do the right thing.
Oh and by the way, it isn’t just men with lousy takes on this:
Girl…If you don’t get your WHOLE ass on out of here. She is another that is NEVER going to be cancelled.
However, takes like this give me hope (mostly because it’s Shannon Sharpe):
It’s thoughtful and smart coming from a man who actually PLAYED football (and dropped a name of another female beat reporter that is not well known…but the fact that HE said her name speaks volumes, to me).
But let’s keep going. Because here is another side to this coin: Jourdan Rodrigue has done some problematic things too. Case in point:
Now, it didn’t take long for someone to find these tweets as if this takes away from ANYTHING that Carlton said. Yes, I am still not saying his proper name. He didn’t even know her name so I DOUBT that he was sexist to her because of 3-4 year old tweets. Her tweets are of course racist and she has since apologized for them. She apologized when they were exposed, but she did apologize (as if folks who get caught in twitter headassery don’t apologize when they are found out). Do you know who hasn’t apologized yet? Corey Neutron aka Cam Newton.
Saying “well she is racist” isn’t an excuse for his comments and just shows the blind spot that some men have when it comes to gender. I am not telling anyone to be or not be offended. However, when someone tells you they are offended, we need to stop saying “ugh you are so sensitive”. Especially when I have watched white people tell people of color that they are being too sensitive about racial injustice and then turn around to complain about confederate statues coming down and Hillary’s emails.
I will not sit here and say that Craig is stupid. He is nowhere near it. He was being insensitive. He just got dropped by Oikos so I wonder if that will make him issue an apology.
My spidey senses are not really tingling about that.
BLACK&GIFTED 