Yesterday, we talked about Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton and his sexist BS in the middle of his press conference on Wednesday. When a Charlotte Observer beat reporter named Jourdan Rodrigue asked Cam a completely normal question about football, he belittled her existence and her presence with just a handful of words: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes … it’s funny.” Reportedly, the room was full of mostly male reporters, but none of them laughed or smiled, they just sat there in silence. Jourdan tweeted that she went to Cam after the presser to clear the air and his behavior was even worse.
Since then, all hell broke loose. Predictably, people began “investigating” the reporter, because how dare she. To be fair, Jourdan Rodrigue had some genuinely awful skeletons in her closet – several years before, when she was in college, she had tweeted some racist sh-t and used the word “n-gga.” This is her apology:
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 5, 2017
She issued her apology before Cam Newton issued his, which is pretty much Peak 2017. I’m not saying Jourdan Rodrigue is the most innocent person in the world – those old tweets are terrible and she absolutely should have apologized, and they absolutely reflect poorly on her character. But it does feel like it’s a case of “woman mildly identifies sexism in a public forum, and everyone examines HER history.”
As for Cam Newton, throughout the day Thursday, he was widely slammed. He lost one of his sponsors, Dannon Oikos, and that company issued a blistering statement about Cam’s sexism. Cam is also sponsored by Under Armour, who didn’t say anything. Gatorade, another sponsor, did issue a statement about how Cam’s behavior was unacceptable but they didn’t drop him. Late on Thursday, Cam issued his apology:
— Cameron Newton (@CameronNewton) October 6, 2017
He says, in part: “After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women. And to be honest, that was not my intention. If you are a person who took offense to what I said, I sincerely apologize to you…I’m a man who tries to be a positive role model to my community and tries to use my platform to inspire others. I take ownership to everything that comes with that. What I did was extremely unacceptable… The fact that during this process I’ve already lost sponsors and countless fans, I realized that the joke is really on me. And I’ve learned a valuable lesson from this. To the young people who see this, I hope that you learn something from this as well. Don’t be like me; be better than me.”
I still don’t really understand what was going on in his head when he made the original comment. It was so out-of-nowhere really. But I guess that’s the point – sexism comes out of nowhere, there’s no real rhyme or reason to it, no logic to it. I tend to believe that Cam only “understood” his comment was “extremely degrading” when he lost a sponsor and got called out so publicly.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
And what are the Panthers doing? There are rules about the treatment of journalists in the NFL that came about after numerous problems towards women reporters. That’s why they now do the post-game interviews in a press room instead of in the locker rooms where they used to take place – because bad things happened in the locker rooms. Did the Panthers reprimand him? Did the NFL?
Cameron apologizes for not apologizing before Dannon yogurt dropped his ass. Fixed it for you, Kaiser.
Translation: “I am just apologizing because I don’t want to lose any more endorsements” idiot
After careful thought, I’m convinced that if I don’t co-sign this mess my publicist wrote for me, I’ll be totally fucked, career-wise.
He’s an idiot. But like I said yesterday she’s also racist. I can condemn both of them as garbage people. There were white women on twitter talking about how we shouldn’t talk about the racist tweets because it changes the narrative.
If I ever needed a reminder about white feminism that gave me another wake up call. Newsflash we can condemn Cam for his misogyny and sexism while dragging the reporter for being racist and bragging about it.
Bingo. I can drag both of them, because they both deserve it for different reasons.
I completely agree. We can hold two ideas in our head: that he’s diminishing her and (in a sense) all women, and that she’s a problematic racist (which he presumably doesn’t know?)
Screw both of them. She felt degraded, well maybe she now knows how minorities feel when racist asshats like her and her father makes racist jokes. Two wrongs don’t make a right but I’m kind of glad she was exposed for who she really is.
Two wrongs don’t always make it right but sometimes it makes us even.
White feminism” is not a “free pass” for everytime a famous black man says or does something sexist to a famous white woman, which is often how it is used by people on the Internet. (And, to be clear, I am not saying that ALL famous black men say sexist things to ALL famous white women. Nor am I saying that famous white men don’t say sexist things because that is patently untrue). Cam Newton’s behavior was reprehensible, regardless of whether or not Rodrigue’s was the perfect victim.
As you are using it here, yes, you are deflecting from Newton’s sexism. Because specifically using “white feminism” to say, “see, what Newton did was not that bad because the person he said sexist things to is racist.” No, her racism does not lessen his sexism. His sexism is independent of her racism, and her racism does not excuse his sexism. (It goes without saying, of course, that the reverse is true).
Resist the knee-jerk impulse to defend sexism by finding racism. It actually hurts all involved. Both things are bad and both things should be called out but one does not excuse the other.
Did you miss the part where she said both are garbage people? As her past does not negate comments he made, neither do his negate her’s. They are both assholes and deserve all the shit they are getting, equally. She should be fired and he should lose sponsors.
Did you even READ my comment? Try again
Reading is fundamental
Yes, I read your comment, @Nicole. I saw a whole lot of excusing a man for sexist behavior, using “white feminism” as a palatable excuse. It is pretty gross and hurts people who recognize that you can fight both, rather pitting them against each other.
You’re wrong here, EOA.
Nicole is very consistent in condemning misogyny.
More than I can say for a lot of WW who condone racism/defend racists when it’s convenient for them.
Pretty sure the second line just said I condemn them both. Then the last line reiterates that SAME IDEA. Like seriously do you READ
@kitten you always have my back
No she called them both out and I understand her point about two things existing at the same time. That concept seems to be lost on posts like these. Two sh.tty people in one story but it doesn’t diminish his actions because she is a crap person. But to be clear, she IS a crap person.
Confirmation bias at work. Rarely has a better example been posted. Bravo, EOA.
/s/
P.S. – reading comprehension is for everyone!
Exactly. I’ve got enough disappointment in my heart for the both of them.
Neither get a pass.
“There were white women on twitter talking about how we shouldn’t talk about the racist tweets because it changes the narrative.”
How I am not surprised but still saying WHAT THE HELL to myself? White women seriously…
For real. Not surprising at all. But everyone once in a while you need a refresher
Completely agree. They are both scumbags.
Meanwhile, there are still plenty of douche bros on my FB feed defending poor Cam from “over-sensitive, over-analyzed PC culture.” Because why is it disrespectful for a man to scoff at a woman for daring to talk about football, wouldn’t a woman say the same thing if a a man asked about “feminine topics”? Come on, you guys, this woman has never made a play in her whole life, isn’t it natural that she should be invalidated for trying to do her job? Seriously, he was just pointing out how far we’ve come. He was just saying, “Wow, look, a woman can talk about routes!” They would all be on our side if Cam had actually said something disrespectful about women!!
Of all the patronizing bullsh!t. I basically said, yes, I understand why this feels overly-sensitive to you, because you have no idea what it’s like to live and work as a woman. Assholes.
So funny how white guys are so quick to shred football players for protesting police brutality, but as soon as it’s about misogyny, they’re all buddies. Sexism: the great uniter.
It needs to be pointed out to that there are laws governing workplace behavior and Newton was in his workplace and that the NFL has rules about how teams must deal with women reporters because of serious problems in the past. That’s why I want to know what, if anything, the Panthers did.
This is a workplace violation, she was doing her job when this happened which add a layer of – WTF you doing about this NFL, to this situation.
I mean, I’d say Cam clearly expressed his politics, something they’ve made clear they won’t accept from black women off the clock, but its cool when it matches their biases, and the person saying it makes them $$$$$$$
The rush to silence the reporter and find something out about her so they can shout “but SHE’S a bad person TOO!!!” like maybe she deserved it is actually peak misogyny to me.
No. She did not deserve it. I don’t care if she said racist things. Well, I do care, but it’s a separate issue. This is the Perfect Victim thing all over again. If she had been raped, would her racist tweets make it okay? No? So why is it now sort of fine that he belittled her and basically negated her existence as a reporter at a football press event. No, no, it’s okay, she’s a racist so we don’t have to feel too bad for her anymore and now she knows what it feels like to be demeaned and we can all stop worrying about sexism because she kind of deserved it.
I really like all your points here, especially around the ‘perfect victim’, but are people really saying she didn’t experience sexism? My bias may be showing here, since I don’t read a lot of comments elsewhere, but most people seem annoyed by both?
For me, she’s not a perfect person, she may even be a shitty person, but her previous racism doesn’t make the sexism levelled against her ok in any way. And honestly, Cam has significantly more power and a bigger platform to spout his bigotry.
I hesitate on these issues though, because I don’t feel confident I understand the nuance of what black folk in america face, and how that must feel. I’m open to listening to what our sisters are telling us in these cases, they are the ones who are going to feel this intersection the most.
To me this isn’t about Can Newton at all, and not even really about the journalist. They are merely Person A and Person B, placeholders in a narrative that has happened to us all. How many of us have experienced having everything about us dismissed with an airy wave, simply because we are female? I have. It sucks. I’ve also been told (nicely or not) to essentially sit down and be quiet about it, it’s not that big a deal, and terrible things happen in the world every day. I’m fortunate and privileged, so I should feel grateful it wasn’t worse.
And you what? Often I do. It’s usually fruitless to argue and I know that if I do, it’s most likely going to make everything worse. This sort of thing happens so freaking often that you’d never get anything else done if you pointed it out every time. Maybe that’s why everyone is in such a rush to move on. Like how many rape survivors distance themselves from the event, sometimes even making excuses for their attacker’s behavior.
Even here the conversation has gone from “seriously misogyny is awful and still everywhere” to essentially debating which is worse, being sexist or being racist, who wins Worst Person Award in this conflict. I’m sitting here thinking of the young women who turn away from their passions in life because of sexist pricks making their lives hell, the women who struggle to be heard in their male dominated industries, the female politicians who hear nothing but comments on their appearance. And every single one of us who has been belittled, harassed, and waved away simply for failing to be a man.
100%, and I wouldn’t want to get into an arguement over which is worse. I don’t think thats winnable or proveable for anyone, and really not even a battle that needs to be fought. Look at the thread on the Brie Larson posts. Every single woman has a story, or more than one.
Your point about ‘who wins Worst Person Award in this conflict’ is really interesting too. Its true that we do compare situations, and often our emotional investment determines what side we take, our gut determination of who really is ‘worse’.
I think how you feel about being a woman, feelings which I echo and very much so, are probably felt by black people about racism too. Which is why this type of situation gets so sticky, I guess.
I’m honestly so f*cking sick of straight white men rn.
Same. I’ve actually stopped hanging out with a lot of my white friends–both men and women.
I just can’t handle the ignorance anymore. Additionally, if you don’t want to talk about politics because you find it “too divisive” then you are a privileged POS that I really have nothing in common with.
I thank the stars every day that I have my BF, who is on of the most woke white dudes I know. He reminds me that there’s still good out there.
same
Amen.
Am I nitpicking?
I wish in his statement he would have addressed sexism, and *why* belittling a journalist for being a woman was unacceptable.
His statement is worded in that annoying: if something offended someone I’m sorry for whatever that was- language.
I feel like he doesn’t actually know why he was wrong, he just knows from public reaction that he fucked up.
The fact that she went to him privately afterwards and he was “worse” kind of let’s us know where he stands.
Also, I wondered if he was white would a sponsor have dropped him?
“I feel like he doesn’t actually know why he was wrong, he just knows from public reaction that he fucked up.”
This. As for whether Dannon would have dropped him if he was white, I tend to think so.White athletes have lost sponsorships when they’ve messed up, although I guess it would be interesting to see how the rates correlate to race.
Yogurt companies tend to market towards women, so yes, Dannon would have dropped him.
I wish I had read down further before commenting. So much this!!!!
Honestly, I felt that his apology was classy and sincere. What I respected the most about his apology, which I said to my husband last night, is that he didn’t make excuses. Whenever celebs apologize there’s always an excuse, a caveat. He didn’t do that. The irony of my statement is that the reporter did exactly what I hate in apologies. She tries to distance herself from what she said by length of time or circumstance. Own your ish! I am the most grudge holding person ever lol my husband was surprised by my response, but I genuinely felt he was sorry for his statement.
Actually by saying “if you are a person who took offence” he is not accepting responsibility. If he had, he would have said I sincerely apologize for my offensive remarks. His way leaves it open to debate as to whether the remarks were offensive.
👏🏻
Yes. That distancing statement says so very much.
And she’s racist. That’s surprising, NOT. Racists love bringing up how long ago it was when they made those statements as if time magically cures their sh!t.
Exactly.
Not to mention, while her apology came before his, her apology only came after she was exposed. They are both idiots.
Exactly. SHe was super proud that her dad was being “racist the entire way home”
Racists are always bold until they get exposed
What do you mean Nicole? I am not familiar with that part of her racist dirt.
one of the tweets was about her dad telling racist jokes the entire ride home or something. Which SO FUNNY
Gross. She needed to be called out. It is a separate issue from Cam but one day somewhere the discussion about white women and racism needs to be addressed publicly more than once and often.
You can’t be a feminist and a racist at the same time.
His publicist writes well. Heavy criticism and loss of a sponsor clearly motivated this apology, but
the point is he will stop making sexist comments publicly and that’s what’s important. It’s too bad public censure didn’t prevent our election of a sexist, racist president.
Exactly what Mr. M said last night. He said he thought the way he delivered it looked insincere, and like he had a smirk the entire time.
I must say I find her now deleted tweets much more offensive and sickening.
Agreed.
I don’t see an actual apology to Jourdan Rodrigue in there. So no, it’s not a “classy apology” until he says he is sorry to her.
Welp, now I’m glad that he didn’t apologize to her by name. She doesn’t seem like the sensitive type to me. I’m sure she’s fine.
So, you think the fact that she’s racist excuses his sexism?
I am sure you are “sure” she’s “fine.” Because unless the victim is a perfect angel, there’s always SOME reason to excuse a man’s sexist behavior.
@EOA, So, you think the fact that he’s a sexist excuses her racism?
Neither of them excuses the other by why are they being conflated? Why does her racism have a bearing on his sexism and vice versa? They are separate things. There’s no perfect victim.
Nice deflection, @Odette. No, I don’t. But no one here seems to be saying, “well, yes, she’s racist but her apology was ‘classy and sincere’ and Cam Newton was sexist to her, so it doesn’t matter.” I have no problem calling her put on racism. I do have a problem when her racism is being used to downplay his sexism.
@EOA Deflection!? Whatever. I asked the same question you did, just changed the pronouns. And yes, it absolutely does seem like you are downplaying racism. Both people said shitty things, and you only seem to be concentrating on his crap.
What is wrong with you guys? Are you really trying to say that he shouldn’t have apologized specifically to the reporter because she’s said some gross stuff too?
People are concentrating on his crap (as you so eloquently put it) because it was done in a public, professional forum. Because it’s the issue at hand.
@Bridget – NO, we are not saying he shouldn’t have apologized. Who said that? What he said WAS sexist. And yes, what he said was CRAP — eloquent or not. Her racist shit was also crap, and done on a public forum.
As for racism not being the issue at hand? Wrong. In this instance, he has become part of the narrative because of the reporter’s tweets.
No. I would never ask a black man to apologize to a racist. Sorry but not really.
He apologized to women, and that is enough, but part of feminism is also addressing racism to support women of color. She doesn’t support black women if she is a racist so NO!
Her racism is far more disgusting and harmful than what he said.
But both are wrong. I just think that is one step too far in this situation.
I just really don’t care anymore. I’m over this culture of canceling everybody for everything that happens. He apologized. I’m moving on. As a black woman in America I have more important things to worry about. Can we worry about more than one thing at a time? Of course, but this is over for me. I’ll let the Lena Dunhams of the world harp on this.
Unfortunately, an apology doesn’t make things right here. We all know exactly what he really thinks, and I am absolutely no longer a fan.
Fortunely we know what she is and think as well. They are two peas in a pod, one sexist, one racist.
Its a pretty perfect example how black men can be sexist, and white women can be racist, despite both facing discrimination.
The way he laughed to himself about it and then gave her and the crowd that grin that managed to be cheesy, sly and skeezy all at the same time made my skin crawl. It was so “I’m hilarious, don’t you think it is funny? And cute? I’m being cute, right?”
Ignorant. Both of them.
Her behavior is repugnant. His behavior is repugnant. Two crappy people being crappy to one another does nothing to diminish their individual crappiness.
His words were sexist and unacceptable regardless of whom they targeted.
Her words were racist and deeply unacceptable, and just because she was on the receiving end of discrimination does nothing to diminish that.
Of course under armor didn’t say or do anything. They support trump.
Well, I’m so glad she’s been exposed as a racist so we can stop feeling sorry for her and brush her experience aside! Clearly she’s a terrible person so if she experiences sexism in the workplace it’s alright because she kind of deserved it. I mean, racists deserve to have bad things happen to them, right? So it’s not really real sexism, it’s a kind of perverted justice. Yeah, he’s an asshole but everything is okay because not all men and did you read her horrible tweets!? She clearly sucks, and wasn’t that a nice apology? It’s a shame he lost a sponcer, but tut tut, young man, you should have known better but since she’s awful we can all move on.
Whew! That’s a load off my mind!
Thank you, Wren, for the work you’re doing in this thread. Victims of sexism don’t have to have perfect, umblemished histories to, you know, still be victims of sexism.
It’s a lot more complicated than that, because it certainly DOES feel like people are saying, “who cares if she is a racist.” I’m sorry, but I, a black woman, am very torn about this situation, and it is understandable why. Yes, what he said was dumb and sexist, but I found her shit much more problematic! Now, that doesn’t mean she isn’t a victim of sexism, but it does mean that she perpetuates racism. She is a racist, and I refuse to feel guilty for, in this particular situation, being more offended by her racism than his sexism. These issues aren’t black and white, and sometimes, certain things offend more. Now, if he said “It was hilarious, all the guys in the locker room were making sexist jokes for hours,” I would be equally pissed.
Odette I feel the same way. Again there were people on twitter ignoring her racism. Including her own paper that spent the day dragging Cam which he fully deserved.
Her racism comes up and its crickets.
Like I said on my twitter yesterday: as a black woman i got time for BOTH.
I feel ya, Nicole. I guess we could say this an “intersectionality conundrum.” Of course both sexism and racism are equally important. Yet, things become a lot more complex when the two collide…
Perfect comment.
That narrative is all over this thread and not in an even remotely subtle way, either. Shame…
On a scale of one to 10, this was maybe a two or three tops. Everything does not have to be blown up into a big deal. Was Cam wrong? Yes. But this has been blown up way beyond proportion. I’ve seen headlines saying his comment was “extremely degrading” and “belittling to women everywhere”. That is going overboard. It was rude and classless, and inappropriate and inconsiderate because both were technically working but it wasn’t extremely degrading and it was not belittling to women everywhere.
We as a country have become obsessed with outrage! Everyone is always outraged about something without regard to context or the big picture. People need the space to be allowed to make mistakes within reason without being pilloried. I am a woman who loves sports, and I know more about football than most men probably. I cannot tell you how many times men are shocked, flabbergasted, and stunned to see that I know what I’m talking about it. Some of them say stupid stuff but I set them straight. It doesn’t make them bad people, and most of them are not trying to be malicious. It means they are ignorant and they need to be educated. They are trying to be funny, tongue in cheek, or witty. Some of them are genuinely shocked that I know what I am talking about and don’t know how to react.
Now there are exceptions to this ( a good example is white people doing and saying racist stuff because they all know better now, no one should get a pass at this point for using racial/ethnic slurs, etc). But I don’t think what Cam said/did was so horrible that we need to be bringing out the pitchforks. As far as I know, this isn’t a pattern with Cam and he doesn’t have a history of issues with women, so hopefully this was a learning moment for him and people will let it go.
Seriously who are these men that are shocked by women who know about football? This seems so bizarre to me.
I don’t know any guy who would be surprised that a woman knows about sports.
I’m here to tell you that Cam Newton’s reaction was not normal. The guys that you interacted with who were “stunned” to see that you know so much about football–not normal.
I don’t understand why anyone would excuse, explain away, and NORMALIZE sexism. It’s not typical and should not be met with a sympathetic response from you.
It’s sexism and ignorance and no f*cking dude should behave like that, plain and simple.
Kitten, I think we live in a very different world here sometimes. The women in my family are the ones with season tickets to sports. As a kid, I used to spend weekends in RI with a cousin so we could go see the Providence Bruins all the time. I remember the place being full of tween girls just like us. An older (early 60s) coworker was telling me recently how back in the 70s, the Bruins had a farm team that played in Boston on Saturday afternoons and the old Garden would be packed with teenage girls. Red Sox attendance has been pretty much equal for decades and the team had a woman owner. Celtics crowds have been pretty equal too. Some woman like sports, some don’t. Some men don’t like them either. We aren’t all the same.
@ LP – I almost added “it could be a Boston thing” because yeah, sports are so ubiquitous out here and the audience for our storied franchises have never been tied to a specific gender–at least in my lifetime. We grow up watching sports around here, it’s so much a part of the New England identity. I don’t know….it just seems so foreign to me that men would react with shock to women who know more about sports than they do. It’s pretty much the standard out here.
What I hope from this is for learning after the outrage. It shouldn’t stop at the outrage but I think just calling someone out and walking away doesn’t move society forward. What Cam needs is a lesson on masculinity and how it is harmful to women and to understand what he said and why it is sexist and wrong. He should learn what it does to women when we are treated that way.
I don’t think he should be dragged forever but believe this should be an opening for parents to talk to their sons and explain this to them. I was happy that a lot of men were appalled that is progress, but it needs to be built it upon.
I do have to agree with kitten.
It is weird he was surprised a woman in 2017 knows the details of the game. It isn’t quantum physics for crying out loud. I grew up in a house where we played sports went to games and our genders were never part of the conversation. Only older men are surprised when I can critique games correctly or discuss players. My girlfriends and I go to games, and I never thought it was weird and they don’t either. We have a lot of fun.
Has he lived in a time warp or something?
I don’t think he should be dragged forever either.
I think the emotional response from women on these threads has less to do with what Newton did and more to do with what his specific behavior is symptomatic of; which is this consistent patronizing and condescending mansplain-y bullshit that I see every day on social media, in the workplace, in our everyday lives.
Men have a way of disregarding women; of diminishing and discounting our views, our opinions, and our very valid experiences. I’m just so sick of men talking down to women in a patronizing way. Newton isn’t the only one, but he’s the latest one to do so publicly. But then again, look at the sexist sh*tbag we elected for the highest office and I think we can all agree that this issue is far bigger than Cam Newton.
And I think Wren’s comments on this thread are really fantastic and she speaks for so many of us.
Regarding the reporter: any white person who can say or write the n-word is a racist IMO. I can’t even say the word in my head, it’s just so abhorrent to me. But I guess I just feel like-she should have been dragged about it when it happened. Because bringing it up now feels like people deliberately went to dig up dirt on her as a means to defend Newton and that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
@kitten
Yeah, I get you. I wish her racism was a separate discussion and that it came out at the time as you said.
Now that it is we are put in a position to explain sexism and why it has nothing to do with how great the victim is or problematic they are. I wish it stayed just on Cam and his comments because it is such a meaningful conversation that I hoped we could have.
Cam is the catalyst but the issue is so much more than his comment, and it is alarming that he has daughters with that attitude. The urge to excuse him is so strong in our culture but again that is never a conversation either or why men are so quick to want to be seen as victims of women who just want equal treatment and respect.
I have been reading a lot about men’s studies, not MRA ridiculousness but as it pertains to feminism. I haven’t wrapped my head around it quite yet, but for male feminists, it is interesting. Gender studies are exciting at this time, but I look at Cam and think there is an opportunity to reach men and women who don’t understand what was wrong with what he said. And what was wrong with his sad ast apology too.
Life is exhausting since January. Geesh.
Have a great weekend with the cool Bf and the kitties. 🙂
Endless screaming!!!!!!!!
I’ve been having some frank conversations with the men in my life about the misogynistic roots of using bitch or pussy as a euphemism for weak. I’ve heard a lot of “I’ve always said that but i don’t mean it that way.” Ok.. well what way do you mean it?!? You’re choosing that word and not a different one for a reason and the reason is because that’s how you think. Also been really interested in the differences between men with sisters and men with only brothers.
Just like he’s saying in his statement that wasn’t my intention. OK well what WAS your intention them? Explain what you meant by intimating that a woman talking about football is humorous to you? You knew exactly what you meant when you said it and just because you’re going to stop saying misogynistic things in public doesn’t mean you’re not a misogynist.
I’m pretty much of the mind now that all men have some level of misogynist in them.
And just because she made racist tweets does not make his sexism ok! It doesn’t balance it out, it doesn’t make things equal. They are two separate awful things.
And OF COURSE people had to dig into her life to find something disparaging about her. Victims have to be perfect in order to be considered real victims, didn’t you know.
Exactly.
Generally speaking, other athletes don’t make sexist-ass comments to female reporters so why are people holding him to a different standard?
Athletes are usually very used to/comfortable with women asking them sports-related questions (I can’t believe I have to even type this out) because female reporters have been covering sports since the mid ’70s.
This isn’t a new thing FFS.
i still dont like the harsh backlash is faced and how she was able to get him dropped from an endorsement. why are we so holier are thou and unforgiving, I honestly think he meant no harm and its just like when people are surprised an attractive person is also smart. Why are we so hard on him? I hate to think we like to see young black athletes chipped away at.
Oh ok so he’s the victim in this situation. Cool.
I don’t think he should have said what he said. And I do think an apology was owed. I also don’t think she should have said what she did in the past. If she knows what it feels like to feel sexism, I feel she should have had some level of empathy about knowing what kind of effect racist tweets would have on other people. I’m kind of shocked she managed to get hired as a reporter.
I don’t think her racism cancels out his sexism, but it does make me wonder how people’s minds works in terms of personal experiences. If you’re someone who has experienced sexism, I figure you’d know not to engage in racism (er, especially if you want to be a reporter). So, no, I don’t think anyone has to be the “perfect” victim, but will admit to some surprise about learning about her racism.
sure let’s drag her for her racism AFTER we’re done dealing with Cam. otherwise it’s just a huge PR distraction that takes the heat off him. can we also just red flag the word “females” FOREVER?? it makes my skin crawl when men talk about “females”.
He made a sexist comment to her and he apologized
She made racist comments and apologized.
I wonder if her dad still makes racist comments during their road trips?
What he said was condescending and wrong.
What she is also supposed to have tweeted was worse. No sympathy for her after this bullshit from her side came out,sorry.
I don’t find his words particularly offensive to all women. I guess it doesn’t sting because he looked obviously ridiculous and no one backed him up. The word female also does not bother me. If I was at work and this happened it wouldn’t be great but he’s a player, not known for his words, probably only a highschool grad, hes not the boss.
Then again if you don’t like his words it doesn’t matter how racist the “victim” is. And she deifinitely sounds racist. Honestly SHE should be losing a position after that was uncovered. Who doesn’t know not to use the N word, like especially on social media. It’s upsetting that someone so bold and shameless was rewarded with a great position (i assume if you’re interviewing a quarterback that’s a pretty enviable journalism job.)
But his words have nothing to do with who she is, since he didn’t know her history,
Ummmm why would you assume he only has a high school degree? Most NFL players attend college. Newton went to University of Florida, Binn and Auburn.
But even if he didn’t have a college education, what does that have to do with sexism?
Lack of education does not guarantee a sexist attitude. Really, the two have nothing to do with one another. And just because he’s an athlete doesn’t give him a free pass for being “not known for his words” or whatever. This is part of an athlete’s job: you have to speak at the post-game pressers and if you have endorsement deal, you are expected to represent the brand which often means being a spokesperson.
Man, the excuses…just ugh. The bar is set so damn low for men it kills me. “It’s hard for the menz to not be sexist! please stop being so hard on them!”
FFS
Yeah I’m fine with him losing whatever job or sponsorship due to his personality, im not saying he passes the bar or should be forgiven. Sorry I don’t watch football so I wasn’t aware if college is the common level of education. I don’t find it particularly nasty or offensive as he made himself look silly, not her, and he wasn’t agressive or sexual with her. Also, the word female doesn’t bother me even after reading about why people don’t like it. He stated his opinion (whatever is funny to him is a mystery to me as I don’t watch football) which absolutely was an example of institutional sexism since he wouldn’t do it to a man.
So if they are in the business of firing people for being sexist, sure. But the NFL hires also known rapists and domestic abusers right ?
But for a reporter to have a social media post about with the N word is so much more shocking. I assume the quarterback has exceptional talent but I thought journalism is very competitive, how can someone with such awful judgement to have made and left up those posts have such a sought after position.
But his words are offensive to women in general because he wasn’t behaving in the name of equality. Would he have said that to a man in the same job? No, therefore it is sexist. This is not a situation at home chatting where you can work it out on even footing. He demeaned her in front of her colleagues, and that is a problem, and if he did that to a man, the behavior of questioning someone’s intelligence, it would be wrong without question.
But in a male-dominated field, the power of his remark to a woman is even more offensive and regressive.
Her racism is another matter that clouds the issue of just Cam’s remarks.
Not forgiven AT ALL. But I must admit that this was one of the better apologies I heard from this ‘stars’ that are doing or saying shit and get called out on it. His publicist did a good job writing this.
I was not offended and I’m a woman, so therefore it’s not a big deal. (Rolls eyes cause that’s the usual response when a minority person takes offense at something and another minority chimes in to report that they weren’t offended)
I’m going to have to chalk this up to different experiences, cause as a black woman I cannot get worked up over this. I just cannot.
I’m going to be blunt and this is not directed at anyone on this board but white people, in particular white women need to get a grip. We live in a world where the majority of white women who voted in the 2016 US Presidential election voted for Trump. They are the biggest beneficiaries of Affirmative Action but sue for discrimination when they don’t get into the school if their choice. Frequently dismiss non white women who try to bring up and discuss the ways your whiteness protects you from some of the other harsher treatment and judgment women of color get. Frequently dismiss and disregard the opinions and experiences of minorities and why our worldview may be different than yours…..And the list goes on and on.
Cam Newton says and I quote “funny to hear a female talk about routes” and then proceeded to answer her question, the actual response to her question indicates that he wasn’t being dismissive of her. His quip aside, he gave a solid answer. He didn’t mock her, he didn’t dumb down his answer so the female would understand, he did make any sexual / demeaning / degrading references and it’s time to bring out the pitchforks.
And then naturally of course, we find out she has or at least had a race problem since she’s openly bragged about and amused by her racist grandma.
Yeah, I’m over it. Cause you know what else is happening in America? Yet another white man committed a mass shooting, 59 dead. And investigators are working their butts off trying to understand why he did it, what his motives were, so they can basically excuse it in some way.
I’ve yet to see one person say maybe we should understand why Cam Newton said what he said. Maybe we should try to understand where Cam is coming from? Nope, he’s an asshole, he’s a dick, he deserves to lose endorsements, his apology wasn’t good enough, he’s a loser, he should’ve known better, there’s no excuse…..OMG he used the word females.
I cannot.
Amen! 🙏🏽
What I see here is black women defending a black man, excusing his behaviour because what is his victim did is “worse”. As wren commented above, there is no perfect victim and in this particular case, the two incidents have bear no relation to one another. It is possible to condemn both and leave it at that.
I myself , as a muslim African woman living in Europe have experienced both sexism and racism. Neither will end as long as we keep on making these excuses and arbitrarily deciding which offence is more or less important depending on whether the perpetrator is one of us or not.
Yeah. No one excusing Cam. Saying it’s blown out of proportion is not excusing it. It’s saying the response has been over the top. There’s a difference.
Uh, Please. Comment was blown WAY out of proportion..and it just shows that the league and the news org she represents is ok with blantant racism and Black Death in proximity to an ill-advised sexist remark (I.e. Words) They LOVE highlighting the time difference in relation to the comments but, Black people know better than to excuse a time span.
They tried shifting the narrative for the last 2
WEEKS of the ORIGINAL protest, and basically insisted on telling Black athletes HOW to protest–bullsh*t.
Cam is just being used to deflect from their idiotic treatment of Black NFL athletes…specifically Colin K. Sickening. Hope the league crumbles. And those athletes take the money earned and stock it into their communities.
I actually though his apology was a good one. Often we see celebrities half apologize or non-apologize for their behavior and it is called out for what it is. What Cam said was wrong and disrespectful but I do believe his apology was sincere. This was a teachable moment and I believe he learned a lesson. He did not blame the journalist, he did not blame the culture, he did not try to diminish his behavior in his response. He accepted responsibility and accountability. We should be as quick to call out a sincere apology as we are a non-apology.
“If you are a person who took offense to what I said”–
Not an apology.
Here is my main problem with this. Is this reporter a racist ignorant a-hole? Yes. Should she be shamed? Yes.
But, Cam Newton did not know about these tweets. In fact, Cam Newton knew NOTHING about this person when she asked the question except that she was a “female.” And that’s what he commented on. And mocked. Screw him. He was not just commenting on her, but her gender and women’s role in sports journalism. And let me tell you, as a woman who loves football, and who can out-talk most of the men I know about football, this is complete and utter BS. It’s not about this one specific woman-it’s about how this star athlete views any woman that comes to interview him. It’s his mocking, degrading tone that is so outrageous. Women are just as capable of understanding a route as a man–it’s not that hard and it’s certainly not gender specific. He gets what he deserves in this case.
ONCE AGAIN,
Blown WAY out of proportion. She’s a damn bigot who should lose her job. End of story.
Cam Newton is a good person. He made one stupid, thoughtless comment and apologized for it totally and completely. Case closed.
I mean for God’s sake people we are talking about a 28 year old football player who made one dumb comment and all of Western society turns him like he’s the antichrist. If he were a 70 ear old white guy con man his comments would have gotten him elected President.