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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums49ers’ Culliver Aplogizes For ‘Gay Players Not Welcome’ Remarks
NEW ORLEANS (CBS SF) San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver apologized Wednesday evening for homophobic remarks he made during a Super Bowl media day interview.
The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. 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, he said in a statement released through the 49ers organization.
The NFL has never had an openly gay active player, but if there was one, Culliver had said in the interview that he wouldnt want that player on his team.
Yahoo! Sports posted an excerpt online of the Tuesday interview between Culliver and comedian-shock jock Artie Lange, who began by asking Culliver if hes been approached by homosexuals.
Nah, I dont do the gay guys, man
I dont do that, said Culliver.
Lange then asked if there were any homosexual players were on the 49ers.
No, we dont got no gay people on the team, said Culliver. They gotta get up out of here if they do.
Lange asked Culliver to reiterate his thoughts, to which the player said, Its true. He added he wouldnt welcome a gay teammate no matter how talented.
Cant be with that sweet stuff, continued Culliver. Nah
cant be
in the locker room man. Nah.
When Lange asked Culliver whether any gay players would need to keep their sexual preferences a secret, Culliver said: Yeah, come out 10 years later after that.
more: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/01/30/49ers-cornerback-chris-culliver-gays-not-welcome/
Zoeisright
(8,339 posts)has been hit in the head too much. Plus he's incredibly ignorant; can't put a coherent sentence together.
Behind the Aegis
(54,053 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)Actually made this statement, "The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. 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."
If you buy that I've got a really nice bridge to sell you, at a steal of a deal. It just happens to be in the bay area, too!
dballance
(5,756 posts)broken because they'd have been scrawling all over the paper. I don't believe for one minute he meant or believed anything he said in that apology.
Team publicist wrote it for him to say. I wonder how long it took for him to be able to memorize it.
Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)They didn't want to risk an actual presser where he might ask a reporter what 'derogatory' means.
dballance
(5,756 posts)he can't put together a grammatically correct sentence. So it would be a very high risk to their damage control efforts to actually let him speak or be asked further questions.
kwolf68
(7,365 posts)He's a homophobe. It's no shock to be honest.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)is a homophobe. Anyone else seeing the irony in this?
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)clearly there can't be any homophobes in San Francisco since there are so many gay people here.
or does that sound stupid now that i've put what you were implying in print?
Are_grits_groceries
(17,111 posts)Of course there are homophobes in SF. However, it also has a huge and active gay population. That isn't the case in a lot of places.
That he would make that statement while playing in that city is ironic.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)from bigots like this if they want to continue in a sport they love and have a talent for.
He is not sorry and the idiot did not write that apology
His team's PR unit is sorry but not for the correct reason imo
dballance
(5,756 posts)"why do people have to apologize for having morals that are sustained in their religious beliefs?"
So, not being able to stop myself I replied:
Because an NFL football team is anything but a religious organization. So there is no basis whatsoever for discriminating against a gay player and not wanting them to be on the team. He's welcome to his beliefs, morals and religion. He's not welcome to insist a secular organization follow them. If a gay player joins the team he's free to resign from the team if it offends his morals or if he's under the delusion that just because he's another male all gay men want him so he can't be in the locker room with them.
Perhaps Culliver should familiarize himself with history and remember it wasn't all that long ago white players would have said the same sorts of things about having him on the team.
So his ability to forget the still recent (and continuing) discrimination of African Americans and be able to feel free to demean gays for "that sweet stuff" is just as bad as when whites stereotyped African Americans as "shucking and jiving."
That's why he needs to apologize.
Nice reply. I may have to borrow it.
dballance
(5,756 posts)So I just posted it again since I could copy and paste from here. I'll see if they delete it again.
dballance
(5,756 posts)sakabatou
(42,202 posts)d_r
(6,907 posts)probably the allusion to shuck and jive - you weren't trying to be racist, you were trying to make a point, but it was probably interpreted as racist.
dballance
(5,756 posts)I wasn't endorsing or using the phrase "shucking and jiving" as part of my post but as an analogy to the disparaging remark Culliver made.
However you may be correct. They could very likely have automated software monitoring the posts with a list of banned phrases like that one. That type of software might not be able to discern the context as it blindly deletes posts with banned words or phrases. Now that I think about it I wonder if I threw some spaces or asterisks in there if the post would stay. I might try that.
cash__whatiwant
(396 posts)Iggo
(47,591 posts)Fuck him and his self-serving apology.
villager
(26,001 posts)I mean, I know Hunter S. Thompson used to say "never apologize," but still....
Iggo
(47,591 posts)What I need is for them to either not fuck up in the first place, or if as in this case they already have fucked up, to admit they fucked up, fix it, and try not to do it again. Apologies are next to useless. They're what we make children do so that they learn their lesson. Other than that, they do no real good. Amends, however, are real. You fuck up, you fix it. I don't need to hear how sorry you are.
villager
(26,001 posts)But hey, if you don't need 'em, ever, good on you...
RudynJack
(1,044 posts)sincere apologies I've seen from a jerk, so I accept it.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Dumbass.
Bucky
(54,094 posts)davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Also given that it's the week before the Superbowl, the guy should have just kept his trap shut as he's a distraction to his team.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)The off-the-cuff comments that he made in the locker room? Or the carefully worded "apology" that was no doubt meticulously crafted by a PR team in a damage limitation attempt?
TeamPooka
(24,292 posts)The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel."
Then why did you say them and why are they in your head?