Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette (17) on the field before the gsme at Bank of America Stadium. Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
By Sean Keeley on

Carolina Panthers fans are out in full force, demanding an apology or acknowledgement from ESPN reporter David Newton following a question to wide receiver Xavier Legette about his father.

As the Panthers prepare to take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Newton was among a gaggle of reporters speaking with Legette in the locker room. The South Carolina product, who is in his second season with the Panthers, fielded a question from Newton about his upcoming opponent.

“The Cowboys are always America’s Team, did you grow up following them?” Newton asked.

“Yeah, when I was little, my daddy was a Cowboy fan,” said Legette in his lovely Southern drawl.

“I’m thinkin’ he won’t be this week,” added Newton.

“For sure, for sure, ain’t a Cowboy fan… no more,” responded Legette, while looking away and deeply sighing before he was asked another question.

The cause for consternation? Legette’s father died of a heart attack in 2019, while his mother passed after a battle with cancer four years prior.

Now, one might say it’s unreasonable to expect a reporter to know that off the cuff. Usually, that would be true, but Newton, who has been ESPN’s Panthers beat reporter since 2013, has written about Legette’s situation before. Most notably, he profiled the wide receiver just last year and included a passage about his parents.

Legette’s unique Southern drawl has endeared him to people across the country after hearing him speak for the first time.

“Oh, yeah, they’ve been dragging it all over social media,” Legette said of his accent. “I just tell them folk, man, they really just have not never heard anybody talk from Mullins.”

Neal said Legette sounds just like his dad, Anthony, who died of a heart attack in March of 2019, four years after the receiver’s mom, Anita, passed after a long battle with cancer.

It is entirely possible that Newton just forgot in an insensitive moment where no offense was meant, but many Panthers fans don’t seem to have seen it that way. That’s perhaps because there has been a healthy disdain for Newton’s coverage over the years from some members of the fan base (a Change.org petition to have his credentials revoked has garnered over 1,200 signatures and has been active for a year).

Newton hasn’t mentioned the comment on his social media accounts, though he’s certainly hearing about it from Panthers fans and those upset by it.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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