After making a sexist comment to a female reporter, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton posted a video, apologizing for the remarks.
During a press conference, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton laughed and made a sexist comment about a female reporter asking about his receiver’s routes. The 2015 MVP said that he found it “funny” hearing that question from a female.
The quip was undeniably sexist from the quarterback. And since then, Newton has been berated on social media as female sports professionals fought back and as those not stuck with that archaic mentality lambasted the quarterback for his remarks.
On Thursday night, Newton posted an apology to his Twitter:
— Cameron 1 Newton (@CameronNewton) October 6, 2017
In the video falling a little shy of two minutes, Newton apologizes for his “extremely degrading” and “disrespectful” word choice. Then he apologized to those who were offended and talked about how he tries to be a good role model. While it’s a nice sentiment, he never refers to his language or word choice as sexist, which it inherently is.
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As for his apology to those who were offended, that’s kind of a cop-out and something he should know better than to do. At around the minute mark, Newton speaks about his daughters and how he raises them to be whatever they want to be. Another nice sentiment until he goes into losing sponsorships and fans, a quick jump off topic.
To wrap up, Newton issues a warning to “young people” to learn from his mistakes, making a plea for them to not be like him, but to be better than he is. He concluded by apologizing to all women for his remarks. What is truly missing from the video is an apology to Jourdan Rodrigue, the female reporter who asked the question. It would have been nice to see him address her and issue an apology directly to her for his remarks.
Speaking of Rodrigue, she is dealing with a scandal of her own. In the midst of this situation, tweets from 4-5 years ago on her account show Rodrigue using the N-word. She has since apologized for the comments, but she has a long road ahead of her, similar to Newton. That’s something ESPN’s Jemele Hill noted on Twitter:
As I tweeted a few mins ago, two things can be true at the same time. Cam should apologize. And yes, she deserves to be criticized. https://t.co/Vy4gD98uJj
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 5, 2017
When assessing the apology, former NFL head coach Bill Cowher made an interesting point. He said his words will only speak as loud as his actions. Newton owned up to what he did and now he has to prove he learned his lesson. Same goes for Rodrigue, who also issued an apology on Thursday.
Neither is blameless and both deserve to be criticized. Hopefully, it’s a lesson both Newton and Rodrigue can learn from and move on from. It’s an ugly situation all around, but taking responsibility is a step in the right direction.
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It would have been nice for Newton to apologize directly to Rodrigue and it would have been nice for Rodrigue to do more than send a tweet. At the end of the day, it’s best to move on. Forgive, but don’t forget — and most importantly, as Newton put it, to learn.