Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton created a controversy with his response to a question from Charlotte Observer Panthers’ beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue on Wednesday. Rodrigue asked about receiver Devin Funchess embracing the physicality of his routes, and if Newton enjoyed seeing him hit people. Newton said “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes”, then further repeated “it’s funny” with a grin after a dead silence before then talking about Funchess a bit:
The full video is available here, with Rodrigue’s question starting around 6:40. Here’s the transcript of her question:
https://twitter.com/jaywillis/status/915686898990931968
Rodrigue took exception to Newton’s response on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/915682599326162945
And she received plenty of support from other female NFL writers and reporters:
there are not enough angry face emoji faces in the world. Keep kicking ass, we've got your back.
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) October 4, 2017
Me too, Jourdan. Keep kicking ass.
— shalise manza young (@shalisemyoung) October 4, 2017
Every female sports reporter has encountered a neanderthal like Cam Newton over the course of her career. They go low. We go high.
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) October 4, 2017
Rodrigue also said she talked to Newton afterwards and “it was worse”:
https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/915683363675090944
Others weighed in to criticize Newton:
To say that in response to a legitimate question for @JourdanRodrigue is so backwards and disrespectful to her and to women
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) October 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/BridgetABC11/status/915680458683363328
The thing about the Cam Newton comment is that women reporting on sports is not new, and hasn’t been for some time. Bizarre
— Opening Day Brandon (@BecomingBrandon) October 4, 2017
Today, Cam Newton really said that "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes.” And looked like he actually thought it was funny. pic.twitter.com/P0Z97Y3YHm
— Sean Wagner-McGough (@seanjwagner) October 4, 2017
This is not a good look at all for Newton, and it brings up flashbacks of some of the spurious arguments against women in locker rooms that have been made over the years against reporters like Claire Smith. Rodrigue was doing her job and asked Newton a reasonable question. For him to be dismissive based on her gender is problematic, and it shows some of the issues women in sports media still have to contend with.
[Jonathan Jones on Twitter]
