Falcons wide receiver Roddy White apologized Thursday night for making anti-gay comments on Twitter earlier in the day accoridng to Angel K. Brooks of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. @roddywhiteTV said: "OK people I apologize for saying the word gay I know it's a sensitive subject and a athlete of my stature should not use it." So, how did it all begin? A fan asked White if he would rather lead the league in statistics than win a Super Bowl, and White tweeted: "Would u rather be gay or straight come on u know that answer?" Some of his followers took offense, so he followed up by saying: "Freedom of speech. I don't care how much money I make. I should be held to my own standards and not the standards of other opinion.#period" and "every time somebody says the word gay u want to get your panties in a bunch relax #whyusoemotional." Source: The Redzone
Oh geez...here we go again. His answer to his fans question was really out there and had NOTHING to do with her question...what a dweeb.
Freaking goober. I hate this guy way more than I did 5 minutes ago. He really can't see the problem with this, and that's incredible.
well, most people don't have a problem with what he said. most normal people use the word 'gay' in their everday vocabulary. that's not the point. it's the fact that these athletes know at this point that saying something like this publically WILL offend 'some' people and they will catch hell for it .............. yet they continue to do it time after time .............. just doesn't make any sense unless they're seeking negative attention for some reason.
Right? This stuff was going on long ago. It just wasn't so available for us to read/see. Twitter and all these media outlets are just getting these athletes in all kinds of crap. I find it kinda funny personally.. lol
His tweet had NOTHING to do with what his fan asked him...that's the problem I had, at least pretend to have a freakin brain and give your fans some sense of adulthood and intelligence.
Agreed.. But this is America.. Where you have to be politically correct even when talking to fans/friends. Too many people get all butthurt over stupid stuff.. SMH
Ok, I'm not usually "uppity" about such things, or many things at all really, but I'm going to go through what I had a problem with when I read this. I, like pretty much everyone else and Roddy White I'm sure as well, grew up saying things were "so gay" or "heckin' gay" when I was pissed off or felt like expressing something with powerful words. You've probably seen the same lame PSAs I have about that phrase, and I hope I can express myself here without my thoughts being seen that way—but now that I'm older and wiser I can see what a bad thing expressions like that can be, and it's more than just the language Roddy White used in this instance. The problem is far from him just using the word gay. People say it every day and it doesn't "get you in trouble" on its own. What childhood-me, Roddy White and other people are trying to express when they say these things is how much something sucks. What we (me and Rod) didn't/don't understand is the relationship between the words when expressing frustration that way and how offensive that comes off if you let someone's words bother you. I'm not gay, but some people involved in my life are. I don't know if they are/would be mad about this, all I know is how it made me feel when I took too much time thinking about it and let it bother me a little. That's where my initial post was coming from; empathy is in my nature and I let that overpower me sometimes. I also understand those who have said they don't think it's a big deal because, as already stated, this still happens all the time. You hear it in everyday life often, so it doesn't mean that much. I can't say that in moments of frustration I'm able to completely clear things like that from my vocabulary if in known company. And as others have also said, White is who he is and has people following him as a public figure and he expressed this thought in a public forum, which was dumb. What set me off was the simple ignorance of him chalking it up to too much attention or being held to other people's standards rather than being willing to evaluate his own speech and try to understand how it might make someone else might feel. I realize I shouldn't be surprised that an athlete is self-centered in his thinking, and that's just a benefit of me taking a look back at how I reacted to this at first. ..see what I did there Roddy? Just evaluate yourself honestly and you'll be better and/or smarter for it. Sorry if this comes off as preachy or long-winded, I just felt like looking at this in detail and had nothing better to do for the moment than react to this.
maybe it is the age thing but I don't see why someone uses that word to describe something other than two guys blowing each other. I personally don't have a problem with people saying that but I am not gay so it has no meaning to me. And by the way Roddy, freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of consequences for saying words. The old yelling fire in a movie theater or bar comes to mind. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say you can say anything you want with fear of the outcome. And lastly, seriously, I thought Roddy was gay.
It's not the use of the word gay, it's the implication that everyone would rather be straight than gay instead of whoever they are. And it shows how far that lifestyle is from being accepted still in the black community especially.
well, i don't think every lifestyle/race/religion/etc. has to be 'accepted' by every person in the world. people are still entitled to their opinions. in fact, the thought of everyone having the same opinions on everything is pretty sad and boring. you just have to be smart enough to know if you are a public figure, you don't express certain opinions you may have publically because of the backlash you will get from 'some' people.
