ESPN’s Stephen A Smith who said Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani should not be the face of baseball because he can’t speak English and needs an interpreter but later apologized for the remarks (photo file GQ)

Jon Gruden: Selective Outrage

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

Jon Gruden resigned as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders just hours after the New York Times detailed emails in which he had made homophobic and misogynistic remarks, after an earlier report of racist statements. “I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone” was part of his statement announcing his resignation. Aside from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gruden used a racist term to describe DeMaurice Smith the NFL Union in Chief in 2011 to Washington Football team executive Bruce Allen.

The coach was in the fourth year of this 10-year contract for $100 million that he signed with the Oakland Raiders in 2018. After two of the most prestigious newspapers in the country broke the news, Jon Gruden had little choice but to resign and in doing so, he made the right decision.

We seem to have Selective Outrage in this country when it comes to reveal what somebody said or did say years ago. This July ESPN Sportscaster Stephen A. Smith said on social media that baseball player Shohei Ohtani’s use of an English interpreter “contributes to harming the game to some degree” and added- “The fact that you got a foreign player that doesn’t speak English, believe it or not, I think contributes to harming the game to some degree, when that’s your box office appeal,” Smith said during the July 10 episode of First Take. Othani has become the face of baseball and Mr.Smith believed that he should not.

He apologized but never resigned from his job. Considering the violence against Asians at the time of his remarks about Othani (a Japanese born citizen) that could easily be considered racism. It is only common sense. But let’s face it, if you experienced discrimination and or racism, you know it, and do not need a Diversity and Inclusion Degree to “know it”. Trust me on this one.

But it happens today in all walks of life, not only in the world of sports. We live in a Woke culture that selects whom they pick on and who they “let go” or “look the other way”, because we all know that media sources have their own bias.

That is very dangerous and in many ways hypocritical by most standards. In 2019 Virginia Governor Ralph Northam admitted (after various media outlets revealed) he was in a racist yearbook showing one person dressed in blackface and another in the typical KKK’s white hood and robes.

A photograph appears in the 1984 yearbook for Eastern Virginia Medical School. Many believe he was the man in black face. Although the Governor apologized, Northam did not say whether he was wearing the KKK outfit or blackface. To this day, he still the Governor of the State of Virginia.

We can make an argument that a Governor of a State is a much more important position and should have a higher moral standard because he represents the millions of people that live in his State and he/she gets paid by the taxpayers, regardless of political party affiliation. An athlete or a coach or a man that gets paid to make sports commentary, has not such responsibility.

The above are three separate incidents, where actions got the participant in trouble. However, only one lost their job, while the other two have been able to continue with their careers. What is wrong with this picture? There seems to be a double standard in life. We all need to remember, treat people like you want to be treated.