San Francisco 49ers Cornerback Chris Culliver embarrassed himself, his teammates, and the NFL with his blatantly anti-gay
remarks:
“I don’t do the gay guys man,” Culver told radio host Artie Lange. “I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do… Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah… can’t be… in the locker room man. Nah.”
When Lange asked whether gay athletes would need to stay closeted in football, Culliver responded: “Yeah, come out 10 years later after that.”
Under pressure, Culliver offered a half-assed apology that satisfied no one.
“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel,” he said. “Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart.”
The NFL must take swift action and suspend Culliver for the first two games without pay next season. By doing so, they will send a strong signal to players that homophobia is unacceptable in the league.
There are some who believe that he should be suspended for the Super Bowl. I believe that this would be a mistake, because it would punish the entire team — the first one to make an “It Get’s Better” video — during the most important game of the players’ careers. Suspending Culliver at the beginning of next season would send a message, without potentially altering the outcome of a game on the worldwide stage. However, it is critical that the NFL take action immediately and exact a price for such rank bigotry. If the NFL simply winks and nods, it will have such distracting and unacceptable flareups over-and-over-again.
For more on this topic, see what Michelangelo Signorile has to say, as well as John Aravosis.
What is suspending him going to do? He’s still gonna have the thoughts he has. So what if he doesn’t agree with gay football players coming out of the closet? That’s HIS opinion and he’s entitled to it under the Constitution. To go around asking the NFL to suspend him indefinitely for voicing his opinions makes us, as a gay community, come off as being Thought Police.
Would you do the same if one of our own, say… Dan Savage or Wayne Besen referred to heterosexuals as “breeders” or some other derogatory term that I ‘ve heard bandied around in gay circles? Mind you, I’m gay myself… Frankly, I really don’ t care too much what some jock strap a*****e says… It doesn’t phase me. This is just one man if many showing the world how insecure he is about his own sexuality.
It matters a hell of a lot Ray. If his comment had been racist or against a religion I doubt you would talk about this crap as free speech. But — it’s only the gays, huh? So, we are the one group people can s**t on without repercussions…think about it.
P.S. I wouldn’t call heterosexuals breeders in an obnoxious, hateful, or disdainful way either. So, your comparison is not only hypothetical, it is invalid.
That’s exactly it, Wayne.
If people like Ray heard an NFL player in an interview refer to N*ers in the locker room there’s no way he’d be saying “not a problem”. Somehow its okay to s**t on gays but not on people for their race or religon.
Ray, the point in doing this is to make being anti-gay as socially unacceptable as being anti-black or anti-semetic. This type of abuse will never stop if we do as you ask and just smile, accept it, and pretend we’re the offenders for objecting to it.
Its so much more then that Ray, your simplifying it way too much. Lets address a few points:
” That’s HIS opinion and he’s entitled to it under the Constitution.” WRONG! The only thing he is entitled to under the constitution is no government interference with his free speech. I work with the public all day long. I can guarantee you if I refer to a customer as a fat dumb a*s, I will most certainly lose my job. That is not a violation of the constitutional right to free speech.
“To go around asking the NFL to suspend him indefinitely for voicing his opinions makes us, as a gay community, come off as being Thought Police.”
WRONG! We are not thought police, You like others hinge your argument on “words are words” with no tangible outcome. Have you not been following the news in the last few years? Kids. KIDS! CHILDREN are taking their own lives from being bullied. And what this clown said gave the green light to every moronic suppressed homo jock, to beat the hell out of the gay kids. Words have tangible outcomes. FIRE in a crowded theater certainly does. Think about that.
The point is simple, This idiots statements thrusted into the limelight now gives bullies a hero. A voice to look up to. And that is reinforcing the wrong behavior. I will stand by the Ravens specifically “Brendon Ayanbadejo” who’s voice gives hope and lends a role model for someone struggling with coming out. I will stand with him and his positive voice of hope and encouragement. Chris Culliver’s voice MUST be drowned out with messages of hope and encouragement. We owe that to the children we have failed as a society. At the very least.
Perhaps I could have phrased this better:
Ray, the point is not to attempt to change the mind of bigots like Culliver, its to keep the thousands of children who idolize people like him from thinking great and successful people should think like that.
Maybe i’m just to libertarian minded, but the proper response to bad speech is MORE spech, not censorship or suspension
The man isn’t even smart enough to just apologize and admit that he doesn’t like gay people just because they are gay. Since when does one divorce “thoughts in his head” (where your brain is?) from your real feelings? Musings or fantasies are one thing, but he never clarified that. He went on about it and they were his feelings. What an dufus.
Ben said “Maybe i’m just to libertarian minded, but the proper response to bad speech is MORE spech, not censorship or suspension”.
That’s all well and good Ben, but no one was allowed to give an opposing viewpoint in that interview.
Well, i will admit i am not pivy to all of the details, becuase i’m not all that interested. but…
It was an interview with him, not a public forum of debate. The debate has begun, and the proper response is speech.
I agree that he needs to be suspended. I do wonder (maybe I just don’t understand his slang) why he used the term “sweet”…
That’s the problem Ben, its not a public debate forum, it was an interview where he gets to promote the idea to thousands and thousands of people that gays are unsavoury and no one on our side gets to rebut him. Us pointing out he’s wrong on this blog won’t reach all those thousands and thousands of children listening to him and thinking he’s a role model. That’s why a public renounciation of his words are needed from the NFL.
[...] night, San Francisco 49ers homophobe Chris Culliver screwed up badly in the Super Bowl, giving up a touchdown and he was also called for pass [...]
“Free speech” does not apply in this case. When you represent an employer, an employer can take action if your speech violates its policies or its ethical codes. In Culliver’s case, the 49ers were quick to not only condemn the comments, but also force him to face the music for them.
Not only that, but court cases have established a “fighting words” exception to free speech. I would not be protected under “free speech” if I called a black man or woman the n-word.
The NFL would be well within their rights to suspend Culliver if they so choose. I have a feeling that former commissioner Paul Tagliabue likely would have suspended him.
Karma came back to bite Culliver in the nads anyway. See how horribly he played Sunday?