The inner machinery of professional football has never exactly been an area of expertise at Queerty HQ, but we feel even more baffled by the sport after hearing how one prospective player was grilled on whether he likes men by team officials.
Former LSU running back Derrius Guice reports that while he was interviewing at the NFL Combine, an annual event where prospective players try out for the pro league, he was asked some bizarre questions, including whether he “likes men.”
‘’It was pretty crazy,” Guice said on the SiriusXM NFL show Late Hits. “Some people are really trying to get in your head and test your reaction. … I go in one room, and a team will ask me do I like men, just to see my reaction. I go in another room, they’ll try to bring up one of my family members or something and tell me, ‘Hey, I heard your mom sells herself. How do you feel about that?’”
But while these lines of questioning sound surprising to the uninitiated, this is apparently business as usual for the NFL.
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“It went exactly how everyone told me it would be,” Guice said. “It’s exhausting. … It was a great experience. You’re being watched and tested the whole time.”
The NFL is looking into the claim, though a similar incident two years ago was never properly addressed.
Outsports adds:
The last time an NFL coach asked a potential draftee if he “liked men,” the league did nothing. Encouraged by advisors to focus on “education,” the league took no action against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons, in turn, did not suspend the coach who asked the offensive and illegal questions, Marquand Manuel. Heck, they even promoted him to defensive coordinator a year later.
At the time, the head coach of the Falcons, Dan Quinn, released this statement:
“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches. I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves.
The HRC responded to Guice’s story:
“The fact that Derrius Guice was asked by an NFL team — and a prospective employer — about his sexual orientation is absurd and inappropriate,” said HRC Director of Public Education and Research, Ashland Johnson. “With similar incidents already reported, it’s clear that the NFL did not do enough to prevent it from happening again. Guice’s experience illustrates the risks faced by millions of LGBTQ people today in employment, athletics, housing and other areas of their lives. It’s why we need swift action to condemn these kinds of practices and to fight for passage of the Equality Act to ensure comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The NFL should take serious actions that address these unacceptable incidents and the perpetuation of an unwelcoming anti-LGBTQ environment, including publicly supporting the Equality Act.”
Kieran
What does his sexual orientation have to do with being picked for an NFL team? Do they ask players what religion they are?
Notright
Sports on a gay blog? WTF?!
ChrisK
It’s ok to be a religious nut. However, the NFL and sexual orientation go together like oil and water despite the public face.
tham
@Notright,
It’s so wonderful that you are learning more coming to this blog than we are learning from you coming to this blog.
Btw, we need more articles about Hockey players…they’re as hot as soccer players, but all tough and rednecky.
And when they get old…who doesn’t like a guy missing all of his front teeth :p
o.codone
@Notright. I love ur posts and your opinions, but I live and breathe the NFL, so fu*ck yeah, sports, right here, right now.
My2Cents
I thought this was ridiculous too until the mother comment. I now assume they are just asking these questions to gauge the anger level of the player. A lot of football players have anger issues and you can weed them out by just asking if they are gay or insulting their mother. I get it now.
Sam6969
Likely disgusting maneuvers to discriminate against gay professionals. Really disgusting.
JaredMacBride
Guice handled it well, and publicized it, as he should. To me the question about his mother was far more offensive.
chris_clb614
More like a bit too much media attention after he came out after being projected as a 3rd to 5th rounder. Being within twenty spots of the final pick was not Sam’s fault.
DCguy
Oh look, the anti-lgbt troll hates anybody who is out of the closet and now is defending anti-lgbt bigotry.
Queerty, when they have demonstrated over and over that they are only here to attack lgbts when do these obvious trolls get screened?
Ummmm Yeah
Chris it came out that he told them he was going to do a TV show about how they kept him out over homophobia unless they accepted him into the NFL. They accepted him to avoid the publicity and he proved them right. He had no business in the NFL and they got the bad publicity anyway. So why would they ever hire another gay person and take the chance of repeating that?
Kangol
Intrusive, creepy questions, with an edge of homophobia (and maybe Manuel wanted the information for himself) and offensiveness about the player’s mother, but Guice kept his cool.
As for Michael Sam’s flop, the league now has experience in how to deal with an out player so they should act like adults and prepare in case some new brave player comes out. Sam still gets props in my book, and always will.
tham
I wonder if they were testing them for a temper and/or extreme behavior problems.
For example, if you ask certain people about their sexual orientation, they explode in a giant FREAK OUT.
The same could go with anything that might be seen as disrespect. 1 out of 9 people have anger management issues (just read the comments on this blog), this would be a way to test that in a short time environment.
Bob LaBlah
Its boils down to the obvious being just that, obvious. However, in my book its all in how you list the obvious. The guy is obviously good looking, nice strong body, very capable on the football field and gay. Sadly the only thing this useless recruiter saw was the obvious part about him being gay. Were a survey taken amongst his perspective teammates I bet they all would have rolled their eyes at the ceiling in a “so damn what” “what else is new” manner. I close with this: its really sad that in Queerty’s haste (or to be fair a few of its readers and commenters) to post an article/comment they didnt take the two minutes (at best) to look for a video to add important detail to their article/comment on him. Sad indeed but not surprising. Its just a shame how lack of detail can really marginalize an accusation such as this. I mean really, does what Shangela thinks and says take priority over…………….you know, on second thought never mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaKgLZoU_M
tham
Oy…no….oy vey.
chris33133
The questions are illegal. Just ask any employment lawyer or halfway decent HR representative.
Donston
There are plenty of gay and gay-leaning men in the NFL. And a decent amount have teammates and front offices that are aware. They just try to shield it from the public. Yes, Michael Sam was a not too well-spoken media leach. But he never said he was gonna do a TV show bashing the NFL if they didn’t accept him. You’re just pulling stuff out of arse to slam the dude. He was initially a projected pick in the first three rounds before being out. He did however seem to have issues that extended beyond his orientation and beyond the football field and may have ultimately done more harm than good. But to entirely blame him for no other NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. player being publicly out is short-sighted and one-note.
gmale
It is called “being bitchy”. Gays do it all the time in a gay bar or in regular life. Say nasty things about others.
I guess it’s slightly different in the straight world I n terms of what is being said but it’s the same dynamics.
Ummmm Yeah
Then I guess you need to get busy contacting multiple news outlets that reported that and get them all to print retractions.
Donston
Give me some links to these “multiple news outlets”. And don’t give me a couple gossip sites. There were rumors that the NFL stepped in to make sure someone drafted him, so they wouldn’t get bad press and that the Rams drafted him primarily because they wanted to avoid being chosen for the “Hard Knocks” series that season. That all makes sense considering he played well for the Rams in the pre-season yet was cut after and not picked up by anyone else. But how does that turn into “Michael Sam threatened to bash the NFL if he wasn’t drafted”?
You’re trying to dismiss societal and institutional male-based homophobia as well as personal responsibility and bravery and unnecessarily bashing Sam in the process. He mishandled some things, but one person can never be responsible for a whole “movement”.
balehead
Could have been a test question for anger issues…
balehead
Could have been a test question for anger issues…and they probably asked everybody to see if they were homophobic…
annashetty
Gays do it all the time in a gay bar or in regular life. Say nasty things about others.
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Jaxton
On the one hand, the GLBT community demands that you shout your gay identity from the roof-tops. On the other, it admonishes an NFL team for asking a question to a man about whether he likes men.
Talk about inconsistent….
JerseyMike
I’m sure there is homophobia in football, just like all areas if society. I think this was testing their reaction. Yes, the line of questions were fcuked up. What I find fcuked is someone thinking the question “are you gay?” as derogatory …