Luther Campbell claimed racism was behind the sports media criticizing Cam Newton after the Carolina Panthers top draft choice played poorly in his first NFL preseason game.
In a recent column appearing in the Miami New Times, Campbell, a former member of the rap group 2 Live Crew, said the reason why black athletes like Newton, Tiger Woods and LeBron James are criticized is supposedly because “sports news outlets are dominated by white faces.”
Not surprisingly, Campbell’s column is short on facts and amounts to nothing more than an idiotic attempt to play the race card.
Campbell said that “Lebron (sic) James will be vilified for the rest of his career because he left Cleveland for Miami. That young man has been unfairly torn apart by sports writers and talking heads.”
Of course, Campbell seems to be oblivious to the way in which King James left Cleveland, and more importantly, doesn’t have an inkling about James’ self-absorbed narcissism.
Campbell goes on to say that “these are the same sports writers who gave Eli Manning a pass when he acted like a primadonna (sic) before he was drafted. Manning was hardly criticized when he made a big stink about going to the New York Giants instead of the San Diego Chargers.”
Again, Campbell is ignorant of the facts. Manning was lambasted by many in the media for his refusal to play for San Diego after the Chargers drafted him in 2004.
Perhaps the most absurd of Campbell’s accusations is his claim that John Daly and Brett Favre never received criticism from the media.
I have personally written four articles criticizing Favre for any number of well deserved reasons, beginning in 2008 after he announced his first retirement from the NFL.
I’ve also been hard on Tony Romo, Jerry Jones and Tony La Russa to name a few and countless members of the mainstream media, namely Bill Conlin, Bob Costas and Joe Scarborough.
By the way, all of those guys I mentioned are white.
The reason Campbell played the race card isn’t so much a result of ignorance as it is laziness. When you’re too simple minded to understand why LeBron James and Tiger Woods have been criticized in the media, then you’re only left with making excuses.
And claiming that a white member of the media is being racist when criticizing a black athlete is the lamest of all the excuses someone can make.
It’s the same tired excuse people like Bryant Gumbel and Jason Whitlock often make when they have nothing better to say or when they can’t back up what they’re saying with facts.
That’s exactly what Campbell did when he wrote his article. He clearly didn’t bother to do any research which would have turned up facts that would have dispelled his claims, then attempted to justify all of his accusations with a blanket statement.
Aside from making himself look foolish, all Campbell did was put his ignorance and narcissism on full display.
What may be the saddest reality of all is that someone will actually believe what Campbell wrote for no other reason than having followed him during his illustrious career as a rapper.
Campbell used his celebrity to voice what was a baseless argument against members of the media offering legitimate criticism of an athlete, perhaps thinking that because he’s black that no one would dare call him out.
Well, I’m calling him out.
Maybe the next time Campbell wants to voice his opinion he’ll do us all a favor and keep his thoughts to himself, because opening his mouth only exposes his stupidity.
