9.08.2010

where is the outcry over floyd mayweather's racist remarks?

Here's a good ESPN commentary examining the controversy over Floyd Mayweather's racist, homophobic tirade against Manny Pacquiao last week. And by controversy, I mean the complete lack thereof: Where's Floyd Mayweather Jr. outcry? Here's my favorite part:
We know what Mayweather's comments said about him, but what does the muted response say about Sharpton, Jackson and the rest us? That it's different because it's boxing?

Maybe.

But the day Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997, Fuzzy Zoeller took a lot of heat and lost sponsors for calling a then-21-year-old Woods "little boy" and urging him not to serve fried chicken and collard greens the following year. Zoeller's words are akin to Mayweather's about Pacquiao, who is Filipino. Now do you still think it's about boxing?

Mayweather's comments are as troublesome as Schlessingers', but he is being treated differently because he's black.

Period.

And if he were being treated honestly, black man or not, we would be hearing denunciations from Jackson, Sharpton and the NAACP. (The National Federation of Filipino American Associations provided a lead for them today.) I'm not playing devil's advocate; I'm advocating for equality -- but in the true sense of the word. Whites don't hold the patent on being racially insensitive, just as blacks are not the only group of people to be discriminated against in this country.
And I'll say it right now -- Asians can be some of the most racist people on the planet too. No one has exempt status when it comes to being called out for their racism. So where are all the usually outspoken folks? Why hasn't anyone stepped up to call Mayweather out? (Thanks, Cat.)

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