Cam Newton’s Comments Did Not Merit This Level of Dragging


On Media Outlook News: y social views are best characterized as one part womanist and one part pro-Black. But when Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton made an ancestrally sexist joke to a female sports reporter, I found the prompt media crucifixion to be irritatingly excessive — especially upon discovery that the remark would hurt his pockets.
During a news conference on Wednesday, a female reporter asked the 28-year-old his opinion of another player’s field routes.


Newton chuckled and responded with: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes like … it’s funny.”

Shortly after comments — which his laughter proved to be absent of malice — Rodrigue rushed to make herself the subject of a news story.
And so went the media’s vigilance to antagonize successful Black men. One Fox reporter even demonstrated a particularly brave level of predictability when she decided to compare the sexism behind Newton’s comment to the ubiquity of racism.

The press’ ardent coverage and “controversy” surrounding the remarks are especially peculiar given the elevation of athletes’ political voices recently. It’s almost as if right-leaning and faux liberal reporters saw an opportunity to say: “Ha, this is why you don’t deserve to be taken seriously.” 

Interestingly enough, Newton opted not to distance himself from the recent controversies surrounding athletes’ using the playing field to express their political views. After becoming the first person in the NFL’s history to rush for 50 career touchdowns, Newton raised the Black power fist for all the wypipo.

After Wednesday’s news conference, yogurt company Dannon was conspicuously quick to cut ties with Newton by ending the sponsorship deal that rewarded the condemned athlete $1 million per year.
But what was most intriguing about Thursday’s series of events, was the revelation of Rodrigue’s hypocrisy. Freelance journalist Torraine Walker discovered the woman not only had her own prejudices, she’s broadcast them for the Twitter world to see. She’s even been so bold as to use the n-word on the public forum.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. But the underlying narrative behind this story is bothersome: a dubious White woman victimized herself by way of a notable Black athlete and the media was quick to bite.

Have the stories of seemingly innocent White women falling prey to men of color become too few and far between? With a White supremacist president regularly and unabashedly debasing and oppressing people of color, the Newton story points to an evident yearning for news stories to continue catering to the stereotypes which feed and validate provincial minds.

As Walker stated in his tweet, “Cam’s remark was dumb.” It was arrogant and unnecessary. But it certainly didn’t invite any comparisons to racism nor the incessant coverage. It simply wasn’t that serious.
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