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I was on FOX’s Bill O’Reilly last night to discuss suspended CNN pundit Roland Martin.
CNN suspended Martin indefinitely for a series of tweets he sent on Super Bowl Sunday. Martin tweeted that people should “smack the ish” out of male fans of David Beckham’s Super Bowl ad. He also made fun of a Patriots player who arrived wearing pink. Martin’s tweets were perceived as advocating violence against members of the LGBT community.
We need to impress more firmly on our allies’ minds that many anti-gay bigots believe that the only good gay is a dead gay. NOM — which has gotten the Republican candidates to sign its anti-gay “pledge” — sponsors anti-gay hate rallies where NOM-approved speakers say things like homosexuals are “worthy to death.” NOM also featured as “a hero” in one of its videos a gay-bashing Florida public school teacher, Jerry Buell, who in class had said he thought gay people should be allowed to serve in the military, at the front lines with heterosexual soldiers deserting them from behind. Even where gay-bashing bigots and anti-gay politicians are not giving direct orders for violence, they are slipping in enough references approving of psychological and physical violence against gay people that it amounts to a form of domestic terroristic intimidation. Martin’s alibis — “I was joking” and the even lamer “It was about soccer” — show that he is incapable of taking the matter seriously enough, in time to stop his bad attitude from claiming additional psychological and physical victims. A TV broadcaster should not be promoting discrimination and violence against any of its viewers, or against any of its non-viewers, to whom it also has a certain social responsibility.
The reason why his claim doesn’t stand up that he was mocking soccer players and not gays is that he didn’t advocate hitting the soccer player, he advocated hitting the person who found the soccer player attractive.
O’Reilly seemed quite respectful of you, Wayne. I heard he was defending Ellen from a bunch of right-wing bigots the other day, too. Has he had a bump on the head recently?
For whatever reason, I’ve always had good experiences on his show and have been treated kindly and fairly. It’s not that we agree, but the conversation is civil.
I think this has to do with the fact that I clearly state my point and defend it without doubletalk. He seems to respect that.
He decimated Sandy Rios the other day, which was fun to watch.
Good point Priya. That is absolutely correct and on-spot.
Great job, Wayne.
Awesome job as always Wayne… plus you looked really handsome!
Thanks John and Eddy. Very kind of you. Enjoy the weekend. ;)
Thank you Wayne for standing our ground when O’Reilly spoke like a person born heterosexual saying Martin shoudn’t be fired for joking about people born like us. O’Reilly’s double standard for jokes, and even asking that question, would be outrageous if it involved any other minority. But because we are the last despised minority to be OK to joke about, here on Planet Heterosexual-Supremacy, it’s somehow still OK for heterosexists to joke about us and to even ask whether or not it’s OK? Lordy!
I remark that this was only days after O’Reilly spoke out AGAINST firing Ellen DeGeneres, which was doubtless on his mind when he said, “I don’t like the firing thing.”
I am very dubious about a world without testosterone, where men can’t get together at the Superbowl and say stupid aggressive s**t, like Martin did.
—mark miner
Having been the captain of my basketball team and having played football, all I can say is your idea of masculinity and sports is a pathetic joke.
Great interview. I know talking to O-Riley has to be nerve racking!
To digress, NJ just became the 8th state to pass marriage equality, 24-16! Hopefully, a veto-proof majority.
Robert,
Unfortunately it is not a veto proof majority. 27 votes are needed.
I think using the “it’s about soccer players” redirection is quite possibly the lamest excuse Mr. Martin could have come up with. I’ve read that tweet several times over and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how that is supposed to be poking fun at soccer players. For one, there’s no reference to soccer, but to the Beckham underwear ad. Also, it’s directed at “dudes”. “Dudes” who are “hyped” about another “dude” in underwear. Hmmm, certainly sounds like it’s about soccer players!
The other reason I’m not cutting Mr. Martin any slack is that when he’s been in the position of evaluating tweets and statements from others in the public sphere, especially related to the African-American identity, he’s been hypersensitive to the race issue and read between the lines (often accurately) to the race-based message below. Why not extend the same latitude to the issue of sexual orientation?
We’re going to be at the event tonight at Redeemer Lutheran in Atlanta regarding the Exodus road show in Villa Rica GA.
before you go judging me, you all should know that i am a gay male liberal democrat who lives in San Francisco and voted for Obama… but i don’t support gay marriage and i find the Washington and NJ “victories” more like tragedies.
Justin, you can live in a gay bathhouse for all I care and vote for McGovern. If you find the victories a tragedy, you are likely not as liberal as IOU fancy yourself.
Spot on Wayne. Calling yourself a liberal and being one are two seperate things.
Justin said, “. . . i don’t support gay marriage and i find the Washington and NJ “victories” more like tragedies.”
Please explain what makes them tragedies.