The business of publicly coming out these days must be expensive, because out NFL draft hopeful Michael Sam is officially looking to make a buck off of it.
Sam, who will become the first openly gay athlete to play in the NFL when he is drafted later this year, announced on Twitter last night that he is now selling rainbow-clad merchandise on his website to promote his new brand.
Hey Guys, #StandWithSam and #SamStrong gear is finally available at http://t.co/8eA9jfcnOx
— Michael Sam (@MichaelSam52) March 8, 2014
The variety of t-shirts and buttons range in price from $21.99 to a whopping $100, all sporting what are presumably his new slogans, #standwithSam and #Samstrong. Unfortunately, no #Samschlong.
According to TMZ, a portion of the proceeds will benefit at-risk youth in the St. Louis area.
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yaoming
Could use some help with design.
The $100, by the way, is for 50 “Stand with Sam” buttons.
dougmc92
the NFL guards it’s merchandising VERY strictly- I wonder if this will land him in trouble????
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Really? Rainbows? Can’t we, the superlative creative genii, not move this shit on design-wise? Nope, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head either. :/
Merv
I don’t blame him. He hasn’t been drafted yet, so he could be hard up for cash. I wonder if there are legal reasons for him wanting to establish his branded merchandise before getting drafted.
JohnnyCorby
The rainbows are too PFLAG mom-ish. I like the Jason Collins #betrue shirts. Less is more. Sam should head to the theater department and find a gay designer.
DonW
Please stay classy and don’t turn into a sell-out too quickly, Michael. All eyes are on you.
Alan down in Florida
Now we know why he came out before the draft. Now he has a revenue source in case he doesn’t get drafted or if he does and doesn’t actually make the team.
JAW
With Michael still being in College, he has rules from NCAA about making money… he may get in trouble from them.
We also might find out that this is not his site… someone making money from his name… there are plenty of twitter sites that do not belong to the person named.
Michael WILL get drafted and he WILL play… with the Non issue that Jason Collins has been in the NBA… this will start a flood (well perhaps a trickle) of guys coming out in all sports
toronto416
It’s got to be really confusing at this time for him. After all, there is no real go-to in terms of advocacy or gay leadership right now. Those who aren’t celebrities, sports stars or affluent really have nowhere to go or nobody to turn to unless they live in a very large, affluent gay city. Otherwise, it’s pretty much you, on your own. I would have hoped he would have talked to some people in the gay community who could have given him some advice as to how to use our flags and such with a bit more dignity.
But, we have no one person who is leading gay civil rights issues across the board for everyone right now, who could be great at advising those just coming out on what to do next. Fact is, many who are just out don’t even know another gay person and are trying to navigate this all alone. Of course he’s scared. Of course he’s trying to earn something to live off of now in case he doesn’t get picked for anything. Because if he is unlucky enough to not get signed (which is unlikely), he is about to find out the cruelest lesson about gay men: after being out for six months or more, you’re yesterday’s news. They’re off and running to the next new guy who just came out who nobody else has seen or gotten their hands on yet.
misterhollywood
I give the man credit. He is living his life out in the open and advocating for the things that he believes in. Takes a lot of courage to do all he is doing. I still wonder about Colin Kaepernick:)
SteveDenver
I’m totally interested in supporting him, but must agree with those who call foul on the design.