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Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is under fire from reporters, feminists and others over his dismissive comment to a female sports reporter that many are calling sexist.
Here's video of Newton's comments to a female sports reporter:
It's funny to hear Cam Newton, who ranks 25th in the NFL in total QBR (43.3), talk about routes. pic.twitter.com/AhLvUokS6z
— Jackie Bamberger (@jackie_bam) October 4, 2017
What did he say?
Newton, 28, took a question from The Observer’s Carolina Panthers reporter, Jourdan Rodrigue, about his receivers.
"I know you take a lot of pride in seeing your receivers play well," she began. "[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?”
"It's funny," Newton said with a wide smile, "to see a female talk about routes, like, it's funny."
What was the reaction?
While there was dead silence in the room, except for one other person who laughed softly along with Newton, the media exploded afterward with criticism against Newton for what many saw as sexist and condescending comments.
Rodrigue herself responded on social media:
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
Others piled on:
When you hear the perfectly normal, professional question, Cam's sexist response is even grosser. https://t.co/bxkVQ03cdN
— Melissa Jacobs (@thefootballgirl) October 4, 2017
Ladies - do not feel forced into defending our sports knowledge. This is on Cam Newton - NOT ON US. Unacceptable in 2017 to go back to this— Laura Okmin (@Laura Okmin) 1507153830.0
Thankfully, Cam Newton doesn’t represent the many, many NFL players who are respectful & open-minded. He owes @JourdanRodrigue an apology.— Kim Jones (@Kim Jones) 1507155624.0
I have written and deleted a lot of tweets about Cam Newton this afternoon. No respect for him. He owes that woman an apology.— Pat Leonard (@Pat Leonard) 1507158809.0
Needless to say, Cam Newton looks like a bigger clown than ever today.— Larry Holder (@Larry Holder) 1507152766.0
But some on the far left defended him, implying that the criticisms were rooted in racism:
The fake outrage over Cam Newton basically saying the word "female", is an attempt to deflect into a "reverse bigotry" narrative— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸) 1507158845.0
Notice all these media pundits who are pretending to be "outraged" over Cam Newton , ignored the racist blackballing of Kaepernick— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸) 1507159245.0
Others on the right noted that Newton participated in the protests during the national anthem this season.
