Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton is making headline for a recent press conference, and some people think criticism of him is racist.
The Charlotte Observer’s Jourdan Rodrigue asked Cam Newton a technical question about his receivers Wednesday, and the interaction is dominating the sports world right now.
“I know you take a lot of pride in seeing your receivers play well, [Wide receiver] Devin Bunches seemed to really embrace the physicality of his routes, and making, getting those extra yards — does that give you a little bit of enjoyment to see him truck stick people out there?”
Newton shook his head and responded, “It’s funny to see a female talk about routes, like, it’s funny.”
Cam Newton: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes.”
Uh, that’s a really, really bad way to answer a legitimate question. (video via https://t.co/NOdIiKyJCb) pic.twitter.com/MaS4KVjuSV
— Max Marcilla (@MMarcilla98) October 4, 2017
Needless to say, Rodrique had some choice words for Cam Newton.
I don’t think it’s “funny” to be a female and talk about routes. I think it’s my job.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 4, 2017
I spoke with him after and it was worse. I chose not to share, because I have an actual job to do today and one he will not keep me from.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 4, 2017
Some people stood with Rodrigue, condemning Newton for his sexism.
What frustrates me about Cam Newton’s comments: He’s not joking around with friends, he’s being condescending to a reporter doing her job
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) October 4, 2017
But this is 2017, and convention is dead. It’s not good enough to just be a standard feminist anymore. Some people actually defended the QB for his comments, blaming — you guessed it — racism.
The fake outrage over Cam Newton basically saying the word “female”, is an attempt to deflect into a “reverse bigotry” narrative
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) October 4, 2017
Notice all these media pundits who are pretending to be “outraged” over Cam Newton , ignored the racist blackballing of Kaepernick
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) October 4, 2017
If this was Brady, dey would have let it go, remember brady cheated and he’s now one of the goats . Cheated to win the super bowl
— Jp (@Jpnumber24) October 4, 2017
If it was a white man it would have never made headlines, would have been laughed off, and no one would have ever known about it
— kay? kay. (@kaymfkay_) October 5, 2017