BAD SPORT

Retired NFLer Troy Aikman Suggests He Has “Chosen” Not To Be Gay

aikmanRetired NFL quarterback Troy Aikman has been running from gay rumors since the mid-’90s when American sports columnist Skip Bayless wrote the book Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the “Win or Else” Dallas Cowboys in which he alleged the former 6’4, 220-lb. Dallas Cowboys quarterback is attracted to men.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Aikman finally addressed the rumors that have followed him nearly 20 years head on. And, like a true quarterback, he did so by going on the attack:

I’m upset about it because it was made up and there was nothing accurate about anything that was insinuated. And he did it, as he does everything, just for attention. I am probably more upset because I probably should have responded to it at the time it was going on. The advice to me was “Hey, just don’t address it. It’s not worth it. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s ridiculous. All it’s going to do is have people continue to talk about his book.” So I didn’t. But I probably could have responded differently and maybe that would have changed things. Maybe it wouldn’t have. But it is ridiculous, and, yeah, it bothers me. If that is a lifestyle people choose, so be it. It doesn’t affect me one way or another. But it is not my lifestyle.

A “lifestyle” people “choose”?

It sounds like Aikman’s attitudes about gay people are stuck in 1989, the same year he was drafted to play for the NFL. Seriously, who talks like that anymore?

In an opinion piece published by OutSports, Cyd Zeigler writes: “Aikman says that is simply a lifestyle choice, like what neighborhood to live in or what car to drive or where to take your vacation.”

He continues: “I don’t know who or what Aikman is attracted to, but since he’s told us that the gender of the people you date is simply a choice, we have to take him at his word: He’s made a conscious decision to not date men. He might be inclined to, but instead, he’s chosen to date women.”

So is Aikman gay or not? The question remains unanswered.

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