Drew Brees Doesn’t Quite Read The Room
What a whirlwind of a time we live in. It’s surreal living through a time you know will be referenced in history books for years to come. Keep it up. #BlackLivesMatter
On a much smaller, football-centric scale, this has still been a fascinating week. Out of every major sport the NFL has the most history with this entire movement. They frothed at the mouth when Kaep took a knee, blackballed him out of the league, and briefly even banned protests. They countered with military propaganda and at one point even locked arms in “solidarity” after the president was his usual brand of hateful asshole. The arm locking was pitiful and mostly just for show, only happening because Trump disparaged the league. To this point though it is still pretty much the farthest they’ve gone in favor of what is right.
First up, Drew Brees! He’s basically had an entire story arc in one week. Brees has always had some pretty bad political opinions (I remember him saying we have to keep Guantanamo bay open back around the time this comic started). He’s involved in an MLM called AdvoCare and was happy to work with an anti LGBQT charity called Focus on the Family. He claims to not know that they were into the whole hate thing. I’m torn on whether I buy it. I don’t know Drew personally, so if he’s actually a dipshit or just another well-meaning but clueless celebrity who is trying to do good but not doing a great job of it I can’t say. What I can say is that after this week, he seems like he might at least be just an ignorant guy who needed a good slap in the face to start listening.
I don’t know how you come out during all this and talk about how you can’t support people disrespecting the flag. Even many of the people who actively oppose the BLM movement have been treading carefully these past weeks or keeping quiet. The dumbest part was bringing it up as the flag issue when one of the benefits of this turmoil is properly re-framing the narrative about what Kaep’s protest was actually about: Police Brutality. The flag nonsense and troop bullshit was just right-wing narrative hijacking to avoid what the protest was actually about. Thankfully, Brees was immediately and thoroughly roundhouse kicked by Malcolm Jenkins and what felt like half the black players in the league on social media. The next day, Brees was walking it back, and soon after that, offered an apology. It was an okay apology. He then completed his face-turn when Trump criticized him for taking it back by going after Trump instead. His wife has now even said that “we are the problem” in a public statement. I don’t fully trust him yet, but it certainly appears that Brees might finally be listening. At least he’s making statements for BLM, which is better than most players of his level of note.
My personal favorite statements this past week were the Skins and Patriots tweeting BLM support on social media. Now that’s some empty platitude shit. A team with a racist slur for a name and a team that just drafted a 3 percenter kicker giving BLM support? These are pretty much the two teams that probably would have been better off staying silent, because nobody has any reason to buy that shit from Kraft and Snyder.
The biggest moment was different though, and something that I actually can be happy about. Several black players made a video supporting the movement, asking the NFL to apologize and fix what they’ve done wrong. The NFL, at least Roger Goodell, actually kind of did. The video is short and hilariously low on pixels, but they still offered something I didn’t expect: an apology for “getting it wrong”. It’s barely a step above the minimum, but it could still matter. At the very least it’ll be mildly cathartic to throw this video back in their face when if they fail that promise. The real test here comes when the season starts. Protests have to be allowed. The military propaganda at minimum diminished. More minority hires. Donations given to good charities. Support and elevate the voices of those black players. And if he wants it, fucking let Kaepernick back in. I don’t have a lot of hope, but I have more then I did in May.
This past week we’ve seen some pretty big things. As laughable as corporate brand statements are, they still signify some positivity in a small degree. When a brand embraces a movement of social change, at the very minimum it has shown that it believes that vocally expressing support for this cause will not result in a monetary loss. That it is worth leaving those people who will be upset about it behind. When Nike endorsed Kaep, they didn’t care about the idiots who burned their own shoes. When Gillette made an ad condemning toxic masculinity, they said they didn’t care about the morons who threw their razors in the toilet. Is the statement still mostly just cynical marketing to be talked about and make money? Yes. But the fact that these brands have still decided that they don’t need the butthole demographic is still the tiniest step, a true baby step, in the right direction.
Here’s a couple more places you can donate to help the ongoing fight.
https://www.naacpldf.org/
https://bailproject.org/
Take care of yourselves out there.
The fact that Goodell gave that speech response to the video without getting consent from the owners first is interesting. Most likely he was looking at Adam Silver and wanting to be liked as a good commissioner. That said all the things he said about getting it wrong and never apologizing to or even mentioning Kaepernick was a letdown
The lack of apology directly to Kaepernick was certainly disappointing. The video wasn’t a grand statement but it was still a teeny bit farther than I expected.
Stop perpetuating the notion that 3 percent tattoos are racist. It’s horrifically ignorant and super disrespectful to the several active duty military guys of all ethnicities who rock it.
It might not make you a dog, but if you lie down with wet dogs you are sure going to smell like one.
If active duty military people don’t want civilians to think they are racist, then they probably should not get racist tattoos. You might as well have a rebel flag at this point.
All debate about whether right-wing militias are racist or not aside (hint: they always are), to say that it’s disrespectful to “the several active duty military guys” is an objectively hilarious way to say that you have no way to back up your claim lol
I doubt it’s in Kapernick’s best interest to actually return to playing at this point (much as he might want to). Any scenario where he doesn’t play great or at least well will be seized upon by bigots who will scream “See, he’s just not good enough, it was never about his protest!” He was definitely good enough to play when his protest started but he’s been out of the league for 4 years now so it’s not unlikely that his skills have diminished.
Similarly any team that did sign him would be hated on if he’s not good enough to be the starter or if he gets cut.
Does a person necessarily need to be a bigot to point out that he isn’t a top tier quarterback? As a SeaChicken fan I’d have loved to have had him backing up RW3 because Kaps exciting — but I’ve seen him enough to know that he can’t get out of his own way.
As much criticism as we get for the interception at the goal line Kap had 4 chances to throw or run the ball in to win the championship and failed 4 times.
C’mon man, I know you hate the Patriots, but at least be fair in your hatred of them. Yes, Boston has a troubling racist history. Yes, Kraft’s massage parlor stuff and friendship with Trump is skeevy. But Kraft has also given exorbitantly to many charities, and there’s the whole Christian Peter thing that not many NFL owners would’ve done, even if it was largely for show. As to the kicker – he’s said he didn’t fully understand what it meant when he got is a dumb teenager, and once he was made aware of it post-draft, he immediately expressed regret and said he’d get it removed. Now if he doesn’t, criticize away (and I will too), but at least initially he handled it as well as any 22 year old could.
Kraft rapes women. He’s part of the problem.
No point in trying to use facts and context against people loving to hate on the Patriots. ie Dave blowing a gasket about our new kicker, yet somehow misses the little facts like:
1)That it’s likelier that we’ve got a “none too bright” student athlete just picking cool looking tats, without knowing what the fuck they stand for (so like basically everyone that got ink in a language that they don’t speak or from a culture they know fuck all about) and apologizing rather convincingly (for an idiot kicker!) for his transgression
2)Funny how that player was for 3 years in Division 1 teams and got enough exposure to get drafted, yet no one said a peep (and given schools are trying to avoid any controversy ESPECIALLY after the Penn State debacle), yet “somehow’ it took minutes for this to become a thing after he got drafted…
As for Robert Kraft’s contributions to society, I’d love to see what John Mara and Steve Tisch did more than our guy, ’cause I’m drawing a blank… Btw, by the time the dust settles I’d bet that Kraft would not only have beaten this solicitation (which despite the grandiose statements in TMZ-verse is not rape) charge, but probably sue the blabbermouth of a prosecutor, who was trying to distract people away from his own fuckups by going after our guy and trying to chum the waters with grandiose claims and doublespeak 😀
He solicited from sex slaves. Whether or not that’s legally rape, it sure as fuck is morally close to it
I will absolutely jump in line for the “What good have John Mara and Steve Tisch done for society?” party, but, dude. Dude. You have just set the bar SO LOW, I think a baby could crawl over it…
Raise your hand if you routinely solicited from a brothel involved in human trafficking. John? Steve? … no? Neither of you? Congrats, guys, you are officially less human trash than Robert Kraft. Here are your certificates, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I like how you got so defensive about defending the honor of Kraft that you brought up the owners of my team as if I was somehow defending them. I’m not. John Mara is a failson and Tisch is useless. Kraft still sucks. Most of the owners do.
I’m not sure why the tattoo wasn’t spotted or talked about until the draft, but to be honest the guy probably had zero to no public profile before he got drafted. Division 3 kickers aren’t exactly players anyone makes big investigations into during the scouting process. It is also possible scouts knew about it and didn’t consider it a red flag, and would have continued to ignore it if someone hadn’t spotted it when looking him up after he was drafted.
I don’t know if I buy his excuse. Dumb teenagers are indeed dumb, but the world the past few years has made it much harder for something like this to slip past the very online generation without him at least kind of understanding it.
Eh, you’re right, after re-reading it it does sound a bit too defensive… In my defense (pun totally intentional!), it’s not about going after Kraft per se, but putting him in the same sentence as Dan Snyder, especially since your sole reason to put him beside Satan himself for a situation you just admitted that could’ve even been missed by the scout/team.
Remind me – how exactly are the Rams ( Div 1 – FCS) and Marshall ( Div 1 – FBS) are Div 3 teams? Hell, even if you go just by his year in Marshall (where he garnered something called ” First team All-Conference USA”) he didn’t get anyone raising stink (be it opposing players, or someone offended by that tat from his own team), especially given the people on twitter’s hardon for finding something to be outraged about on a daily, nay, hoursly basis?
In fact, by your own admission you don’t know, yet are none too happy to go with the “Guilty, until proven innocent” mob mentality… Hell, let’s apply Occam’s razor on this and tell me what’s likelier, that that idiot kicker is racist enough to scar his flesh with a symbol proudly stating his “allegiance”, yet doesn’t raise enough red flags that there are a cavalcade of tweets and witnesses to his abhorrent behaviour… or he’s just a dumb frat guy that saw a design and thought “Oooh, KEWL”?
For the record, I somewhat disagree about the hyperconnectivity means that much to one’s understanding of the world, unless one stumbles by chance onto something outta one’s comfort zone (or get dogpiled by anonymous people on twitter to outrage him/her into submission). ie – I only recently learned that the OK sign is appropriated by racists, despite spending a (frankly) unreasonable part of my days in front of a computer.. In fact I probably would’ve missed it, if some asshole that shot up a mosque in Norway flashed the nazi salute and the ok sign at his trial that made the news.
That said, if it turns out that there are other incidents in that guy’s history, I’d be the first one calling for his dismissal from the team… I’d rather see us go for two the whole season and roll the dice with our punter for FGs than have a racist wearing the Pats jersey
No one expected it of Jake Fromm until that acquaintance of his exposed his texts either so absence of proof is not proof of absence
I meant to say division 1, my bad. Though my point that kickers just don’t get much attention stands. Kickers, by their own admission, tend to live in their own little island. I guess there’s also the possibility that scouting departments just…don’t know what a 3% tattoo means. It’s the kind of symbol that seems like it would slip under most average people’s radars but be meaningful to the people who know it, like the OK sign or other racist dogwhistles. He might have been a part of some bad behavior but he might also ride with a crew that endorses that behavior or live in a community that looks the other way, so there’s no guarantee we would know. He didn’t have a public profile until the Pats picked him.
There’s also the possibility that some of his teammates did have an issue with him but maybe their complaints went ignored. He was basically a mystery person until the draft. It’s become pretty clear in the past week how much black folks have to put up with shit like this on a daily basis just to get by.
I’m curious how he moves forward from here. His response was okay when called out, but words are one thing and actions another. He’s going to have a microscope on him now, so it’ll be pretty easy to tell if he was lying or not soon enough.
Fair point, the problem is the double standard (not just levelled at Rohrwasser), but at people online in general – people rush to convict despite the absence of actual evidence, hence why I try to play devil’s advocate both for him and Kraft(where I reserve judgement, because it really appears to be a clusterfuck of a prosecution) and Rohrwasser, where going by the available facts it can be as simple as someone picking the wrong “cool thing”, which is hardly a reason to be thrown to the wolves. If someone shows that it’s not a singular fuckup, but part of a pattern – then again – I’d rather have a sub-Jeff Fisher season than a racist on the team. Same goes for Kraft – if he gets sentenced and an actual sex slave was involved and not someone who did it (with a lack of a better term) willingly as a way to boost profits, I’m all for old yeller’ing him. But to execute him on the altar of public opinion, before his trial is done… *shrugs*
Also, I’ll show my ignorance, but … who’s Jake Fromm?
Nevermind, googled him… “Elite white people” … Ew
@Dave – that’s my point – it’s quite possible that he’s just like us and found out about the 3% after he got drafted, because aside from everything else … if he’s not a complete imbecile, he’d have covered that/removed that before he even got drafted. Basically, my entire rambling diatribe is basically “innocent until proven guilty” is a thing for a reason and only pull out the pitchforks when the facts are in… ie like Hernandez or AP back when he admitted that he hit his kid with a goddamn branch.
Also, uhh,is there an edit button for already posted comments, because I don’t want to over-spam the comment section if possible
There is, but only I have it. I can technically allow the comments to go into deeper reply threads but it might start to look weird scrunched up to the right. I think you’ve made your point pretty well
Fantastic comic, but Floyd is spelled wrong.
Feel free to delete this comment when fixed, if you’d like.
(Editors Note: I fixed it, thank you)
https://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/matt-ryan-pledges-500-000-donation-sets-up-fundraiser-for-atlanta-s-black-commun
That’s my Quarterback.
Screw Drew Brees and that entire franchise. Amidst all the tone deaf comments Drew made we cannot let them forget they got caught assisting Catholic pedophiles with legal advice. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2020-01-24/new-orleans-saints-sue-to-keep-public-from-seeing-emails-in-catholic-sexual-abuse-crisis
Drew Brees can always see the open receiver, but can he see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
Also, black lives matter. Kaep has been vindicated. I hope the NFL actually does something meaningful to back up Goodwill’s apology, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
What does letting Kaep back in even mean though?
Also, y’all should check out Coach Flo’s statement
At this point, stop being weird about him wanting to play. The blackballing has to stop and if Kaep wants to do a workout and play again, lets not make it so weird and roundabout to try and hide that it is a publicity stunt
I still think Kaep wont play again, his life has moved on, but him coming back would be a nice statement if nothing else.
So a legit workout? Yeah, I agree with that.
If this was Hollywood Kaepernick would get a job as a back up and his team would make it to the Super Bowl only to see the starter go down with an injury and Kaepernick would come in and lead the team to a comeback victory. Again only in the movies but it would be a great story.
That being said – no one wants that kind of responsibility/media scrutiny for a backup. Imagine if the starter sucks or worse the starter goes down, Kaep does well and then the starter comes back. The media circus would be out of control and there will be a weird sub group that doesn’t watch football who protests over him not starting. Think Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel’s love child X 100.
After having the pleasure of seeing Malcolm Jenkins’ activism and outreach efforts up close in Philly for the last few years, I honestly think the NFL’s PR department needs to just bring him in and do what he tells them to do in these situations. I think the NFL in total should do that too, but I’ll take what I can get. One small note, Jenkins in on the Saints now, not the Eagles.
‘Barely a step above minimum’ is actually all I ask of people.
and if recent history is any indication its also a surprisingly large ask
LOL Kaep had his chances to have a job in the NFL after his stint with the Niners. He is just as much to blame for not being in the league as anyone. He is making bank at Nike(Ironic I know) for his advertisement power with no risk at a concusion, so huge win for him.
Let’s not forget Drew Brees tried to sue a guy who sold him gemstones, after learning that gemstones do not appreciate in value. Something like that.
Jenkins is an ass. Drew Brees embraced NOLA at its darkest hour. THAT’s what he’ll be remembered for – not getting extorted by crybabies.
Nike? Let’s not stampede down and throw them a parade. The suits at Nike ‘believe in something’ — they believe in YOUR money in THEIR pockets. What was the ad campaign REALLY selling? They put together a shrewd piece of advertising that made it SEEM as if Kaep was endorsing Nike, and that Nike shared the viewers beliefs. In the meantime they continue to pay slave wages in third world sweatshops while selling $250 shoes to poor Black kids. If they had to give up a few angry customers, so what – it was never their core market anyway. That was simply the cost of defending their market share against rivals like Reebok, Adidas, UnderArmor, etc. Trust me – they’d abandon their own moms if it made sense — dollars and cents.
My opinion on BLM is irrelevant to my opinion to Brees’ statement, so I’ll keep my focus where it needs to be. The idea that liberty should need to take a backseat to blind loyalty when it comes to the flag, the military, or anything of that nature. I could absolutely despise the reasons behind actions such as kneeling. I’m not interested in preventing anyone from doing it. I’m against anyone who wants to prevent it.
If you think about it, what is the flag supposed to stand for? We know the answer to that, and yet, those people outraged about kneeling would still be loyal to a flag that betrays them with lockdowns? Wait. I forgot. Lockdowns are only ok if you call them curfews. Well, whatever makes them sleep better at night, I guess.