San Francisco 49er's homophobic comments and dumb apology

In a radio interview this week, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver said, "We ain't got no gay people on the team… They gotta get up out here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. ... Nah, can't be ... in the locker room, man."

He has since issued an equally-intelligent apology:

"The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel."

This is the same week that former-49er offensive tackle Kwame Harris was outed as he faced charges for assaulting his ex-lover, a man, outside a Chinese restaurant during an argument about soy sauce and underwear.

Meanwhile, 49ers safety Donte Whitner, who previously appeared in an "In Gets Better Project" video supporting LGBT teens, expressed disappointment in Culliver's intolerance:

"I actually do feel differently from what Chris said," Whitner said. "We are NFL players, but we are humans also. Who knows? There could be somebody gay in our locker room right now that's scared to come out, which he has a right to be if he is scared to come out because of all of this and how other teammates might feel. But I feel like anybody can be who they want to be if they want to be that. As long as you don't disrespect other people and go about your own business in your way, I don't see what the problem is."

Chris Culliver issues apology (ESPN)

"49ers' Donte Whitner ready to accept gay teammate, disappointed in Chris Culliver" (USA Today)

"Ex-49er Kwame Harris accused of beating up ex-boyfriend appears in court" (SF Examiner)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

MORE: homophobia

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

iCowboy

That apology totally reads like it was written by the same person as the original offensive comment. There’s absolutely no way it was carefully constructed by a public relations team trying to avoid a disaster.
- C W
  
  How I feel is crafted by PR minions, what I believe is entirely different!
- dmc10
  
  The disparity between the two remarks is so huge it’s laughable. I guess the NFL spin doctors don’t know how to write in uneducated homophobic ‘english’ (I use the word loosely because I’m not even sure Culliver’s diatribe was in english)
  - marilove
    
    Nice subtle racism there.
    - dmc10
      
      Nice political correctness there. Tell me, what was racist? That I pointed out that his rant was far removed from standard English and was barely intelligible? That for someone who supposedly graduated from college, he sounds less coherent than my 3 yr old?
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        It’s a transcript of a radio interview, not a written statement, and thus is in colloquial language. And your comment is composed almost entirely of dependent clauses posing as sentences.
      - dmc10
        
        Ah ok I see, so if you speak out loud and sound like a totally ignorant bigot, it’s ok because it’s “colloquial language”? Interesting.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        That wasn’t your original point, and there’s no relationship between colloquial language and bigotry unless you have a study to prove otherwise.
    - Caffeine99
      
      Hmmm, so you’re more offended that someone points out his absolutely terrible grammar/ spelling/ slang, instead of the fact that this piece of shit decided to go off on a bigoted, mean spirited homophobic rant? Mkay…
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I was hoping to find a book cover for Apologies for Dummies but the internet has failed me.
Peylia_Mod

Chris Culliver should head on down to Hi Tops Sports Bar in SF and meet some of his fan base.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/01/30/49ers-kiss-at-san-franciscos-first-gay-sports-bar-immortalized-in-sports-illustrated/
Eark_the_Bunny

Flying Spaghetti Monster, what an asshole!
corydodt

Does being a closeted, but wealthy, NFL player count as “getting better”?
http://profile.yahoo.com/RMMZCH4GVSBMHYDP7NP22RQ4EA Bartool

The 49ers organization seemed pretty angry in their response:

“The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris,” the team said. “There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.”

This is the opinion one 24-year-old man, that came from the inner city of Philadelphia. Now, that is not an excuse, but I think Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo (a player, like Chris Kluwe supports the rights of homosexuals) responded best with:

“You know, I think that in San Francisco, and being from the Bay Area myself, that’s something that we really try to preach — love and acceptance of everybody. And so I couldn’t really even say anything negative to the young man. It’s just one of those things where you have to live and you have to learn. And I said earlier on (a TV broadcast) — in the words of Martin Luther King, you can’t fight hate with hate. You have to fight hate with love. We’ve all made our mistakes, we’ve all been there and done certain things, and we’ve hurt people regardless if we meant to do it or not. But more than anything it’s an opportunity to have a learning experience.”

The only way we can really combat this ignorance is with love and understanding. Otherwise the two sides will be getting further and further apart.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher

At least Culliver initially described homosexuality as “that sweet stuff”. So he’s against any of his teammates being gay, but outside of the NFL it’s sweet.

That was the most poorly phrase offensive comment ever to not come out of the mouth of Tony Perkins.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  “tight end”, “sweet stuff”, “wide receiver” football is like one giant double entendre. Why don’t they all just bang and get it over with.
  - Brainspore
    
    Not to mention that those games involve more ass-grabbing than 2-for-1 Tuesdays at the Bada Bing.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Who would have imagined that there was a porn film on that theme?!?
    - IronEdithKidd
      
      Rule 34. Always.
the_wakeful

Now I don’t feel as bad for wishing they would drop him. He’s not even that good of a corner.
Brainspore

I suppose it’s a small consolation, but at least we’ve come far enough as a society that those kinds of hateful comments are widely recognized as being offensive and controversial. A couple of decades ago it probably would have created more uproar if an NFL player publicly acknowledged the basic human rights of LGBT people.
- marilove
  
  A couple of decades ago? More like a decade, maybe less.
  - Brainspore
    
    I was being generous since his team is in San Francisco.
Brainspore

“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel.”

Stupid CIA mind-control transceivers.
- Snig
  
  If only he’d had the foresight to wear a little more aluminum foil inside his helmet.
Navin_Johnson

Maybe he’d be a better fit with The Falcons, Cowboys, or Texans…..
quori

Dude, you are getting ready to play in the Superbowl. Now? This is the time you choose to say something this stupid?

Is it freedom of speech to express your inner most moron…sure is. Doesn’t mean your not a moron.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koocheekoo/ Koocheekoo

Randy Moss also had some encouraging words in response to his teammate’s foot in mouth moment.
“We’re all human, so it’s not fair to sit there and judge a man or woman on their sexual preference. That’s just not right.” http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/17923291-419/49ers-react-to-chris-cullivers-anti-gay-comments.html
Brainspore

I’ve brought this up before, but it seems topical: ever notice that most NFL team names sound like derogatory terms for homosexuals if you precede them with the word “Ass”?

Ass Packers
Ass Ollers
Ass Rams
Ass Chargers
Ass Vikings
Ass Steelers
Ass Cowboys
Ass Raiders

Others don’t quite fit as-is, but they do if you use synonyms:

Buccaneers = Ass Pirates
49ers = Ass Miners

And then there are a couple that just sound gross (I’m looking at you, Cleveland and New York).
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Our team has a positive slang name up here in Chicago, and it suits the food, weather and culture of the place as well…
- http://www.youtube.com/user/Freethinkersanon Christopher
  
  Fortunately there’s at least one NFL team whose name isn’t a derogatory term for homosexuals: the Chicago Bears.
  - Navin_Johnson
    
    And our most beloved Bear was called “Sweetness”.
- David Pescovitz
  
  HAHAHAHAHA! Brilliant.
- http://celesteagnes.blogspot.com/ Sekino
  
  ‘Ass 49ers’ works: It sounds like some elaborate sex position you really don’t want to Google.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    In a cavern,
    In a canyon,
    Excavating
    For a…..
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  If the Ass Vikings are going to defeat the Ass Rams, they’re going to need quite a few pairs of Wellies.
http://www.KladniFigures.com/ Scooter Jackson

The seemingly one good thing to come of this is the outpouring of support for the LGBT community from other players/coaches/teams. Times have certainly changed, and this incident is helping to prove that point.
cyranojoe

Recommend you all read his actual apology. The quote above is not substantive. Here’s what he actually said, which to me speaks to genuine thoughts and the possibility of change:

“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel,” Culliver said in a statement released by the team. “It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.”
- David Pescovitz
  
  Yep, that’s the statement. However, it was a formal “statement” that he or someone thought about very carefully before releasing and the first sentence is still entirely idiotic.
franko

how crazy that the “soy sauce & underwear” link takes me to my local paper. made me do a double-take.
creesto

Man, the response from other NFL players has been soooo much better than those of their fanbase in many comment streams, esp. at HuffPo. So much Angry Straight White Male angst. I blame flouride
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Let me guess: “Freedom of speech!” “PC gone mad!”….
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

Oh those wacky gays, it’s not like straight people have ever fought over soy sauce and underwear
- toyg
  
  Indeed, it’s shameful: a good woman would just take a beating and be done with it. These uppity gays, can’t trust’em.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QLPDV2BDII6BXLLUGG4K5SELAA Arthur

Entirely fair: ain’t got no black people up in my house. They got to get on back to Africa. Can’t have none of that soul stuff up in here.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QLPDV2BDII6BXLLUGG4K5SELAA Arthur

The derogatory comments I made just now were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel.
http://twitter.com/mr_bloo_sky mr_bloo_sky

There have been some additional developments today.

First, some 49ers that were shown in the team’s It Gets Better video denied even taking part:

https://twitter.com/mschneider718/status/297120778929991680

In response, Dan Savage removed the team’s video from the project’s site:

https://twitter.com/fakedansavage/status/297158781698187264
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  You’ve identified an almost perfect demographic for buyers for the Brooklyn Bridge. They have money and they just do whatever they’re told without questioning it.
  - toyg
    
    Please, Antinous, that’s San Francisco, a city full to the hilt of smart high-IQ people from all over the world, people who know when they’re being swindled. You should have called it Golden Gate Bridge, of course.
Ryan Lenethen

Well when your job is to get hit repeatedly in the head, don’t expect much in the ways of profound conversation.
http://singedrac.livejournal.com Singe

Incidentally Su-Hong’s the chinese restaurant in question, is REALLY good. I’ve been there hundreds of times since childhood. I personally recommend the BBQ pork chow mein.