LGBTQ news and entertainment
Addressing the ongoing controversy of NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has penned a letter to team owners saying, “We believe that everyone should stand for the National Anthem.”
Does this mean there will be a rule change in the NFL? Will the players association go along?
We’ll see.
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| Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence (image via Twitter) |
Vice President Mike Pence walked out of today’s NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts when several players from the 49ers took a knee during the singing of the national anthem.
Pence later tweeted (taking after his boss, I guess) to explain his position saying, in part, “While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem.”
I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
At a time when so many Americans are inspiring our nation with their courage, resolve, and resilience…— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
…now, more than ever, we should rally around our Flag and everything that unites us…— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem— Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
From HuffPost:
Following the example of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, NFL players around the country have knelt during renditions of the national anthem in order to protest against police brutality and racial injustice directed towards black Americans.
More than a hundred NFL players from several football teams kneeled or held arms in solidarity earlier this month after President Donald Trump called NFL players who kneel during the anthem “sons of bitches.” He later insisted his criticism of the NFL had “nothing” to do with race.
Interestingly, Donald Trump chimed in saying he asked Pence to walk out making some wonder if Pence traveled to Indiana just to pull an orchestrated stunt – on the taxpayer’s dime:
I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2017
Wait. This was orchestrated to make a point? That’s not an inexpensive thing to do. https://t.co/Ze5jDw4Ifu— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) October 8, 2017
There you have confirmation. A cross-country trip for a staged publicity stunt, financed by your taxes. https://t.co/Z87RTlmq6R— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) October 8, 2017
So this probably cost $1 million to score a political point. https://t.co/8PRVpbgd2o— Glenn Fleishman 👋🚨🚑 (@GlennF) October 8, 2017
You do know 58 people were shot and killed last Sunday, right? Why are you at a football game playing Stunt Queen? https://t.co/qiuCoO0dJr— emokidsloveme (@emokidsloveme) October 8, 2017
FLAG: Was Pence leaving Colts game a political stunt? Reporters were told to stay in van bc "there may be an early departure from the game."— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 8, 2017
The Vice President of the US wasted taxpayer dollars for a pre-planned political charade against the 1st Amendment. Let that fully sink in https://t.co/18qOFlnr9v— Justin (@DTPJustin) October 8, 2017
Days after Donald Trump sparked a national controversy over NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem before football games, Trump now sounds a very audible dog whistle saying NFL owners are “afraid of their players.”
From the Washington Post:
President Trump said in an interview broadcast Thursday that NFL owners are “afraid of their players,” his latest provocative comments in a crusade against those who take a knee during the national anthem.
Trump urged the football league to adopt and enforce a rule that requires players to stand during the anthem He said he has talked in recent days to several team owners, who he said are “in a box” on the issue.
“I think they’re afraid of their players if you want to know the truth, and I think it’s disgraceful,” Trump said in an interview broadcast of Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.” “They’ve got to be tough, and they’ve got to be smart.”
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) September 28, 2017
Washington Post sports columnist Kevin Blackistone explains why NFL players are taking a knee, and how Trump has high-jacked the movement for his own uses.
Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen gets to the heart of the current #TakeAKnee movement in classic Hansen fashion.
Via USAToday:
Donald Trump has said he supports a peaceful protest because it’s an American’s right. But not this protest, and there’s the problem: Any protest you don’t agree with is a protest that should be stopped.
Martin Luther King should have marched across a different bridge. Young, black Americans should have gone to a different college and found a different lunch counter. And college kids in the 60s had no right to protest an immoral war.
[snip]
The young, black athletes are not disrespecting America or the military by taking a knee during the anthem. They are respecting the best thing about America. It’s a dog whistle to the racists among us to say otherwise.
They, and all of us, should protest how black Americans are treated in this country. And if you don’t think white privilege is a fact, you don’t understand America.
Hansen concludes with the suggestion that “maybe we all need to read the Constitution again.”
Yet again, Dale Hansen for the win.
Watch below.
Athletically-challenged Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks on NFL players who choose to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem before football games saying they should “find something else to do!”
“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
This follows his comments last night at a rally in Alabama where he told the crowd, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—- off the field right now. He is fired.’”
Mind you, this is all going on while thousands of Americans in Puerto Rico are trying to survive without electric power after being savaged by Hurricane Maria. But Trump is picking fights with football players over 1st Amendment rights.
If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect….— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
…our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017
Just so we’re clear…
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| Roger Goodell |
Donald Trump started a firestorm last night at a rally in Alabama when he attacked NFL football players who take a knee during the national anthem.
From USAToday:
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b—- off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!”
The audience then chanted “USA!”
“You know, some owner’s going to do that,” Trump continued. “He’s going to say, ‘That guy who disrespects our flag, he’s fired.'”
He encouraged fans to walk out of stadiums if they see a player taking a knee in protest.
This is where I should probably point out that “taking a knee” is basically a First Amendment right. The U.S. Constitution protects free speech and freedom of expression.
Let’s see, where have we seen citizens forced to stand and swear allegiance to a flag/country that they don’t feel treats them with justice? Let me think, it’ll come to me… #Hitler #Nazis
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Trump’s “divisive comments” were unacceptable, “showing an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”
Watch Goodell’s response below.
“This union…will never back down when it comes to protecting the constitutional rights of our players as citizens as well as their safety as men who compete in a game that exposes them to great risks,” said DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFL Players Association, via Twitter.
We will never back down. We no longer can afford to stick to sports. pic.twitter.com/Ec3Bc4qt9h— DeMaurice Smith (@DeSmithNFLPA) September 23, 2017
An entire island full of Americans in Puerto Rico are without power right now, and @POTUS is cursing out NFL players at his campaign rally.— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) September 23, 2017
Working people are hurting. Puerto Rico is underwater. The President is starting a flame war with an NBA player. Unbelievable. https://t.co/eLp2ccGyHN— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) September 23, 2017
But the best response to Trump’s rant came from Kaepernick’s mom: “Guess that makes me a proud bitch!”
Guess that makes me a proud bitch!— Teresa Kaepernick (@B4IleaveU) September 23, 2017
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| Ryan O’Callaghan |
In an deeply personal interview with Outsports, five-season NFL veteran Ryan O’Callaghan (New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs) came out of the closet having conquered years of suicidal thoughts.
O’Callaghan learned very quickly that football was the best place in the world for a gay teenager to hide. The brute, physical nature of the sport went against every stereotype of gay men he knew. At his size, few people would suspect he was gay, and if he was a football player on top of that, he felt his secret would be buried.
“No one is going to assume the big football player is gay,” he said. “It’s why a football team is such a good place to hide.
So he dove into football and made a pact with himself: As long as he put on those pads, he was good to go. Once football was over, he’d take a gun to his head and end it all. That was the deal, and he would hold himself to it.
Watch the video interview below, but make sure you head over to the full article here.
While the NFL still can’t fathom the ‘distraction’ of an openly gay football player, yet another straight player is in trouble with the law for domestic violence.
CNN just broke the story that 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel, has been indicted on an assault charge, according to Dallas County court records.
Manziel’s ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, has accused the former NFL quarterback of restraining, hitting and threatening her during an alleged assault on January 30.
Crowley says in a sworn statement that Manziel grabbed her by the hair and hit her, causing her to lose her hearing in one ear.
Veteran sports writer Howard Balzer is reporting that the Los Angeles Rams (then the St. Louis Rams) drafted SEC Defensive Player of the Year as part of a deal to avoid being featured on the HBO series “Hard Knocks.”
Many teams avoid the TV exposure on the show due to the intrusive nature of the cameras into every part of team life.
It’s been almost two years since the St. Louis Rams selected defensive end Michael Sam in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. At the time, the Rams were hailed for being progressive and drafting the first openly gay player in the National Football League. It turns out, according to multiple sources, that the league agreed not to ask the Rams to appear that year on HBO’s yearly summer series, HARD KNOCKS, if they drafted Sam.
Shortly after his college career at Missouri ended, Sam came put publicly, acknowledging he is gay. The SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, Sam was considered a fifth-round pick at best. But, as the draft proceeded on the final day, it appeared he might not be drafted at all. It is believed the NFL didn’t want to face questions about that eventuality, and the Rams were viewed as the ideal spot because of St. Louis’ proximity to the Missouri campus in Columbia, 90 miles away, and head coach Jeff Fisher’s ability to deal with whatever distractions there might be.
So it was that the Rams saved the day, selecting Sam with the 249th pick of a 256-player draft.
In other words, the NFL used Sam as a pawn to avoid being painted as anti-gay.
Initially seen as a third or fourth round pick, within hours of coming out his stock dropped to a possible fifth or sixth round. In the end, the Rams drafted Sam at the 249th pick in the seventh round.
Clearly, Sam’s coming out dramatically affected his chances due to rampant homophobia in the NFL.
Sam has since said he wished he’d never been drafted by the Rams.
“If I had my way, I really do wish I went undrafted,” Sam said, according to WCBS. “I could have actually went to a team who really needed pass rush, and needed a defensive end who could pass rush the quarterback. But the Rams, even though I learned a log from Chris Long and [Robert] Quinn, I think that I could have done better being on an active roster right now if I went to a different team.”
Michael Sam has responded to Balzer’s reports thusly:
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| NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell |
As Georgia’s newly passed House Bill 757 – the so-called ‘Religious Freedom’ legislation – heads to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk for signature or veto, big businesses are weighing in and they don’t like what they see.
While pretending to protect religious freedoms, what HB757 actually does is legalize discrimination against LGBTs.
Now, the NFL has sent a non-too-subtle message to Gov. Deal – veto the hate or lose the Super Bowl.
From Outsports:
“NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard. Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.”
Atlanta is one of the four finalists to host the Super Bowl in 2019 and 2020. The Atlanta Falcons have been embroiled in a controversy of their own this month after reports of coaches asking prospective players if they are gay.
Meanwhile, Falcons owner Arthur Blank has publicly opposed the bill:
“One of my bedrock values is ‘Include Everyone’ and it’s a principle we embrace and strive to live each and every day with my family and our associates, a vast majority of which live and work in Georgia. I strongly believe a diverse, inclusive and welcoming Georgia is critical to our citizens and the millions of visitors coming to enjoy all that our great state has to offer. House Bill 757 undermines these principles and would have long-lasting negative impact on our state and the people of Georgia.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the NFL moved a Super Bowl over perceived discrimination. In 1992, the League moved the Super Bowl from Arizona to Los Angeles when the state refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day.