The situation with Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly remains one of the strangest in the history of the Canadian Football League. The league handed Kelly, its reigning Most Outstanding Player and its highest-paid player, a suspension for nine games (half of the regular season) last week following an independent investigation into workplace sexual harassment claims against him. But there have been a number of awkward media moments for the Argos and the CFL since then.
That started with Kelly attending the Argonauts’ rookie camp practice Thursday, in shorts and a t-shirt, working with rookie quarterbacks but not taking questions. (That led to Toronto general manager Michael “Pinball” Clemons answering questions about Kelly instead, and that didn’t go too well.) Then, at the start of training camp proper Sunday (and following a lot of backlash from other CFL executives and media members), the team announced that Kelly was “not participating in team activities.” And on Wednesday, the Argos briefly announced Kelly had been placed on the suspended list before updating that he was just away from the team. Here’s more on that from The Canadian Press:
Quarterback Chad Kelly isn’t on the Toronto Argonauts’ suspended list but remains away from the CFL team.
The Argos announced early Wednesday they’d placed Kelly on the suspended list but a club official later issued a revision, adding Kelly is still not participating in team activities and isn’t present at its facilities.
Last week, the CFL suspended Kelly from Toronto’s two exhibition games and at least its first nine regular-season games for violating its gender-based violence policy.
This isn’t the world’s largest deal, and it’s seemingly understandable what’s going on here. The suspended list has notable implications beyond just a player being away from the team. In particular, Kelly not being on that list yet seems to be keeping open the possibility he’ll appeal the CFL’s discipline, which he and his agent have mused about but not committed to yet. And there’s precedent for players taking part in regular-season games while appeals play out, which may be part of any appeal not being filed yet.
However, it seems like quite the own goal (or safety, if we’re sticking with football terms) for the team to announce Kelly’s placement on the suspended list only to have to quickly correct that. And that’s one more way the team’s handling of the Kelly situation from a media side hasn’t gone well.
Kelly appearing at rookie camp drew backlash that could have been completely anticipated. And the announcement he wouldn’t be there for full training camp then continued the news cycle (whereas, if he’d just been away from the team from the start, it would have been an expected and minor note). And now, the team’s brief announcement that he’d been placed on the suspended list sparked some discussion that perhaps he’d agreed not to appeal the suspension, only for their self-rebuttal to draw more attention.
There are many dimensions to the Kelly story. There are likely developments still to play out in civil court with this lawsuit, and developments to play out with the CFL’s discipline and if Kelly will ultimately choose to appeal that or not. But the story so far indicates there’s significant importance to the media handling of this (and it’s not just the Argos; the CFL also mismanaged the initial situation, including not announcing the independent investigation into Kelly for almost a week despite launching it earlier than that).
There’s a lot of Canadian and U.S. interest in this story, and that adds to the importance of handling it well from a media angle. The Kelly situation will likely be messy, and will carry significant criticism, regardless of how it resolves. But thoughtful handling of the situation from a media perspective can minimize that. And that includes making sure that any actual update on his status is completely accurate.
[TSN]
