After Cleveland Cavaliers’ star LeBron James had his Los Angeles house vandalized and spray-painted with the n-word Wednesday, the sports media world had plenty of takes on the subject Thursday. One of the hottest came from FS1’s Jason Whitlock, who argued that racism shouldn’t concern James because he isn’t poor, and that spawned a reaction from Green Bay Packers’ tight end Martellus Bennett. Here’s Whitlock’s take
That provoked plenty of backlash, including from Bennett. Here’s the Twitter rant Bennett went on over this:
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870414148613681152
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870414478642425856
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870414572682870784
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https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870415763068289024
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870416354666590208
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870416703498407936
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870416844968132608
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870417223336251396
The best part in there is Bennett apparently not being aware that Whitlock is with Fox rather than ESPN these days. That goes to show just how much viewership FS1 has. Whitlock then tried to defend his position, and Bennett wasn’t having it:
https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/870424101227159552
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870427176054730752
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870427391524515841
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870427685956325376
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870427972108529665
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870428018287796225
Bennett then finished with some further general thoughts, and a compelling conclusion:
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870434773486927873
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870434989695008768
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870435307346382848
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870436352545959937
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870436664501555200
If only the world’s differences could be resolved with tacos. Whitlock then tried to come at Bennett again, and was shot down:
https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/870467138691006464
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870472549020336131
In any case, Bennett’s points here have a lot of merit, and Whitlock’s comments about James seem extremely callous at the very least. It’s not surprising that they provoked strong reactions (which is a big part of the goal for Whitlock and Fox), but it’s interesting that some of that reaction came from active pro athletes like Bennett. And Bennett proved himself much more deserving of a national platform than Whitlock in this exchange.
