Should Larry Johnson’s ‘Faggot’ Tweet Cost Him $600k?
What’s two “faggots” gonna cost Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson? Oh, just a one game suspension — and $600,000. No wonder he wants to appeal the decision.
That’s the result of the Chiefs’ “investigation” into Johnson’s Twitter and in-person usage of the word. But six hundred large? Says his agent Peter Schaffer: “We will be filing an appeal on behalf of Larry tomorrow. While we respect the Chiefs’ ability to try to discipline a player, we disagree and respectfully disagree that the punishment they propose is warranted by the facts or allowable by the collective bargaining agreement. Hopefully, we will be able to work out a mutual and positive resolution with the Chiefs short of a hearing. If we don’t, then this will go to an arbitrator.”
Though, keep in mind: Johnson’s contract is worth at least $19 million, and up to $45 million over five years. And while even we think what amounts to a $600k penalty is a lot, professional athletes don’t walk into the league blind: they know what’s acceptable conduct and what’s not. And mouthing off to fans, and reporters, doesn’t get overlooked. Well, at least not anymore.
(NB: Even Johnson’s father can’t believe what his son did.)
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
IT SHOULD…………..
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Would the punishment be any less had a white player publicly, angrily, and unironically called a black person the n-word? Or if he had called a woman a whore or a cunt-bitch? Or an Asian person a chink, a jap, a nip, or a slant-eyed gook? Johnson’s punishment should be exactly the same as any of the above. No more, and most certainly no less.
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Should Larry Johnson Lose $600k For Tweeting ‘Fag’? Hell yeah!
He’s lucky he wsn’t barred from the sport for the rest of his life.
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I’m sure the disgrace of playing for the Chiefs coupled with these derogatory remarks will cover him in more shame than the loss of $600K
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Personally, I think this is overkill. I don’t like what he said, but it’s just a word… Not like he killed a bunch of dogs in a dog fighting ring. People can make their own decisions about him because of what he said. $600,000? Some punishment, yeah, but… really?
Almost like the NFL’s making him a scape goat.
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If he used the N-word he would lose his job.
He needs to lose his job and be banned for life from the NFL.
And did you all get a load of his non-apology to everyone but the people he actually insulted?
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Considering that there are no openly-gay players in any of the three major professional sports (NFL, MLB, NBA) and that the locker room atmosphere is substantially homophobic and possibly hostile towards gay players, someone using the word “fag” in a derogatory and pejorative manner only adds fuel to the fire and sends a very wrong message to our kids and sports fans that it’s acceptable to dehumanize gay people in this manner. It’s not, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ response is commendable and sends the right message of treating others with dignity and respect.
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Well this could make a nice case study for PR firms trying to land new business: Hire us, we’ll make sure your players don’t make derogatory tweets. Do I have any investors?
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I don’t agree with what this man did, I mean he should be more professional but he’s being fined $600,000 for referring someone as a fag in a tweet? That’s completely ridiculous. So if he called the fan “dumb” or “asshole” would he still be fined or would this even be newsworthy? But hey he signed a contract and he’s representing the team when he’s in an out of uniform. Bet he won’t say it again.
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When an athlete signs a contract there are two sides. Rewarded for superior skills, you are expected to act as a role model as well and uphold the dignity of the franchise on whose team you play. It is not acceptable conduct in any business of any kind to tweet derogatory statements. Most regular employees don’t make $19 million so they would be fired for doing such. And whether you have fighting dogs, shoot yourself in the leg, bet illegally, or other such unacceptable behavior, you pay one way or the other. The attention could cost the franchise an easy lose of $600,000.. Besides all this it is wrong and what is wrong with setting an example?
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I don’t think he’ll be fined a thing. This from someone in the sport of criminals. Drugs, shootings, Michael Vick and on and on. He’ll get a little smack on his paddies, cry that his free speech rights are being infringed on and be right back on the field as if nothing happened. The NFL now stands for No Freekin’ Limitations.
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Depends on the context.
“did ya see that fag’s cute ass?”
“that fag could throw my legs up…. anytime”
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Yes. It’s working. IT GOT HIS ATTENTION, DIDN’T IT?! Ya think, from the squeaking he’s doing about this, that he might THINK TWICE next time before opening his piehole and letting his filthy bigotry plop out? If he’ll curb his juvenile impulses, he will have learned what most of us did at 2 years old – that punishment wouldn’t be punishment if it didn’t hurt.
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Larry Johnson needs to learn that he gets that fat paycheck to play football and needs to shut his dirty mouth if he has nothing nice to say, didnt his mother teach him that? save the trash talking for the field where you can’t get fined and in the mean time get your foot out of your mouth LJ!
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So the $600k goes to the Chiefs or the NFL?
How about a gay charity (nobody has suggested this)?
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OMG Yes! he’s just an ignorant negro athlete that thinks he’s somebody becuase he’s playing ball, i’m glad they got his ass (i’m black by the way) . . .
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Take away his Blackberry and change all of his passwords.
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He isn’t being fined just for using the word “fag”. In addition to that he criticized his coach saying the coach was unqualified because he never played football in high school or college. His “fag” comment came in response to someone who defended the Chiefs’ coach.
There is no job in the world where you can demean your boss like that and not get some kind of major penalty.
So the two things together justify his penalty and suspension.
Also the Chiefs have been fed up with him for a long time. They have been looking to get rid of him for ages. He was previously arrested in a domestic violence incident against a woman.
If they can show he did something bad that violates his contract, they can get rid of him without paying him his guaranteed money.
He has been a long term troublemaker and this was just the latest in a long string of bad behavior.
Yes, I’m kind of a football junkie. I know that makes me a freak in the gay community, but I don’t care!!
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why is Glaad so perfect!! this actually divides people…
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It’s a very homophobic sport with a lot of homophobic black players. And why are there so many black players? It seems unbalanced in terms of racial proportions. Blacks seem to get preferential treatment.
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With so many homophobic blacks, of course there are going to be no openly gay players. It’s very intimidating for a gay person to declare their homosexuality in an atmosphere dominated by black guys using words like “faggot”.
I truly believe it’s time we came down hard on elements of the black community. They seem to think that being black gives them protection from any form of criticism whatsoever.
Face it, guys – black culture is extremely homophobic. It’s time we called it for what it is.
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mark wrote, “Depends on the context.” To add one more item as a possibility to Mark’s list, let me throw in TUI (Tweeting Under the Influence).
It used to be that someone could get drunk and, aside from friends or family members, the people most likely to notice were ones equally intoxicated, who probably wouldn’t remember anyway. With Twitter and smart phones, the drunken rants can be broadcasted to the world while still in the bar.
Check the time stamp on the ‘tweet’. If it is 2 AM, give him a reduced fine for possibly being tipsy at the time, and then ding him for breaking any rules regarding training and how early they are supposed to go to bed.
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Thanks Jason, for allowing your not so latent racisim to come through.Guess i could say the same thing about Hockey.Why are there so many white players? It seems unbalanced in terms of racial proportions. And when these white guys use words like “faggot” they get their prefential treatment.In case you haven’t noticed, GLADD comes down harder on black celebrities,athletes then it does on whites.Isaiah Washington was crucified for using the word while UFC president Dana White got a pat on the back for using it. Eminem, Andre Agassi,Mickey Rourke, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbough,Pat Robinson, Ann Coulter Perez Hilton(gay so what, and Paris Hilton have all used homophobic remarks. No job loss no fines. Jason where is your outrage against them??
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@ AlekWekJunkie: You are cordially invited to join us in the 21st century. I don’t know if you refer to yourself as a “negro”, but none of the rest of us do. We’ve been black, or African American (I don’t like that one, but that’s just me) for quite some time.
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And Jason, In terms of the black community/culture being more homophobic than the white community, stats do not support this.What proff do you have to support this myth? Steven Domer, Matthew Shepard, Lawrence King, Stender Singh, Harvey Milk, Brandon Tina/Tina Brandon, Barry Winchell(a solders story),Ramon Navarro, Charles Howard, Billy Jack Gaither(after having a tire iron placed around him was set afire. All of these murders were commited by “white men”. In fact since the modern day gay rights movement began with Stonewall,June 28th 1969,over 90 percent of all gay bashings and murders have been committed by white men.Employers least likley to hire and fire gays and lesbians , white men. Discrimination in housing and rental, White property owners.Discrimination and stigma in the entertainment industry, whites. they have more power.And lets not mentioned the Military blacks had “nothing to do with the policy on gays in the first place. Gays and lesbians more likley to be harassed and arrested by white law inforcement officers. The Mormon church, Catholic church, Church of Scientology, each contributed over one million dollars to defet prop 8. Members of each, over 90 percent white. Protestant church and Fundanentalist christians,against prop 8. Over 80 percent white. And Jason why would you give a rats ass about the black community being homophobic?!? “If” they are, black gays and lesbians are the ones who would have to worry.They would bare the brunt of it. But thank god they have a lot less to deal with coming from the black community.
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uh, Tackle… maybe you need to Tackle a chill pill.
All of your ranting and raving make it sound like there is ABSOLUTELY NO homophobia in the black community AT ALL. And, any normal, informed person knows that’s absolutely not true.
Interestingly you picked hockey as the sport of whites. Could it be because it’s the ONLY major sport NOT dominated by blacks? Basketball? No. Baseball? No. You chose hockey. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a headline where a hockey player has called someone a faggot. Maybe because most are Canadian and take homosexuality more in stride than us uptight Americans? That aside, it makes your argument all that more convenient.
As for blacks being “picked on” more by the media for saying it. Can I use the argument that maybe it’s because their mamas didn’t raise them properly. Kanye West anyone? Maybe it’s because most of the other names you quoted are Republicans.. and nobody comes down on them for anything. If anyone every did, Fox News would cease to exist. Everyone just treats them like the crazy cousin that lives in the basement…you can’t take anything they say seriously. You can’t fix stupid.
Personally, I’m all for equal rights across the board. Black, White, Gay… All. That’s just not going to happen. Not as long as there are Miss Black American, The United Negro College Fund, NAACP, Black Entertainment Television, Black Movie Awards and more. As long as blacks set themselves up as different and better, they are going to have to live up the standards they set for themselves. Just as gays are trying to do everyday. As long as we can’t say “the dreaded N word” the new “F” word needs to be punished, too.
Lastly, not that it really matters, but your first post was at 8:30 am and then your second with all your “facts” at 10 something. Seems like someone had time to do a little “fact hunting”. While I don’t doubt your “stats”, I’ve learned a long time ago anybody can make any statistics skew the way they want them to.
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Hey Meowzer, I welcome your comments to what i wrote. However, you seen things, what i did not write. I NEVER said or implied that there is no homophobia in the Black community. All communities have homophobia within them. Even gays can internalize homophobia.My argument was that the so-called Black community is no more homophobic than the White community. Even less so. However Jason would like us to believe otherwise. Before i respond to a some points you made, I find it odd that you did not call Jason on the racist remarks he mad?? You claim to be for equal RIGHTS ACROSS THE BOARD. Just because you never heard a Hockey player use the word faggot, does not mean it has not been used. Remember EVERY community (sporting teams included) has some form of homohobia. As for as Blacks being picked on for homophobic slurs, i stated that this comes from GLAAD. A now i see large segments of the gay community.Meowezer did you write in when UFC president Dana White used the same word and asked that he be fined or lose his job?? Where was the gay communities outrage at him?? Someone whos almost ten years older, and who should know better. And BTW, the ones whoes mamas did not raise them properly is the 90 percent of White men, who are responsible since 1969 of the gay bashings and murder of gays and lesbians.And Miss Black America, is that still going on? Myself and 99.9 percent of the Black population could give a damn about that. Ask any Black person who the current miss Black America is.Bet they couldn’t tell you. I bet Obama couldn’t tell you. Had you would have done your homework, you would have found out that both the United Negro College and the NAACP help help other groups besides Blacks. Over 40 pecent of money raised by the UNCF is given to NON-Blacks. And BET is German OWNED! The Black Movie Awards,there has been White directors and writers and actors who have been honored for their positive image of Blacks and minorities. White actors?? yes! Felicity Huffman was honored for her work in TransAmerica By the Black Movie Awards. If you find these organizations racist thats your right and your problem. Im not nor or the vast majority of Blacks responsible for these orgainzations just as you and the vast majority of Whites are responsibe for the American Nazi Party or the KKK. It’s funny how “SOME” Whites want to bring-up and use the Black orgainzations as a justification to direct their latent racism toward innocent Blacks. The bottom line, Racism, Sexism, Agesim and any other type of ism is wrong and evil… And of all people it not coming from gays and lesbians reguardless of color!
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Bah. Embed doesn’t work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNMXVYMV3X8&feature=player_embedded
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Its gonna cost him a helluva lot more in lost endorsement possibilities, etc. And the damage is already done there, cant unring that bell. He ought to worry about that instead of chasing pennies.