49ers’ Culliver Aplogizes For ‘Gay Players Not Welcome’ Remarks

[cash__whatiwant]

NEW ORLEANS (CBS SF) – San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver apologized Wednesday evening for homophobic remarks he made during a Super Bowl media day interview.

“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience,” he said in a statement released through the 49ers organization.

The NFL has never had an openly gay active player, but if there was one, Culliver had said in the interview that he wouldn’t want that player on his team.

Yahoo! Sports posted an excerpt online of the Tuesday interview between Culliver and comedian-shock jock Artie Lange, who began by asking Culliver if he’s been approached by homosexuals.

“Nah, I don’t do the gay guys, man … I don’t do that,” said Culliver.

Lange then asked if there were any homosexual players were on the 49ers.

“No, we don’t got no gay people on the team,” said Culliver. “They gotta get up out of here if they do.”

Lange asked Culliver to reiterate his thoughts, to which the player said, “It’s true.” He added he wouldn’t welcome a gay teammate – no matter how talented.

“Can’t be with that sweet stuff,” continued Culliver. “Nah… can’t be… in the locker room man. Nah.”

When Lange asked Culliver whether any gay players would need to keep their sexual preferences a secret, Culliver said: “Yeah, come out 10 years later after that.”

more: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/01/30/49ers-cornerback-chris-culliver-gays-not-welcome/

[Zoeisright]

1. Sounds like another fucker who

has been hit in the head too much. Plus he's incredibly ignorant; can't put a coherent sentence together.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Yeah, what the fuck ever.

[Zorra]

3. Not SF 49ers material. Dumbass phobe should be traded to the Chiefs an hour before the SuperBowl. nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. We're supposed to believe the brilliant mind that said, "No, we don’t got no gay people on the team"

Actually made this statement, "The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience."

If you buy that I've got a really nice bridge to sell you, at a steal of a deal. It just happens to be in the bay area, too!

[dballance]

7. Exactly. And if He Were Hooked to a Lie Detector at the Time He Said it the Needles Would Have...

broken because they'd have been scrawling all over the paper. I don't believe for one minute he meant or believed anything he said in that apology.

Team publicist wrote it for him to say. I wonder how long it took for him to be able to memorize it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. They not only wrote the statement for him, they also sent it to the press directly.

They didn't want to risk an actual presser where he might ask a reporter what 'derogatory' means.

[dballance]

11. That Makes Sense. It's Clear from the Earlier Interview

he can't put together a grammatically correct sentence. So it would be a very high risk to their damage control efforts to actually let him speak or be asked further questions.

[kwolf68]

12. PR move

He's a homophobe. It's no shock to be honest.

[Le Taz Hot]

5. So, a SAN FRANCISCO 49er

is a homophobe. Anyone else seeing the irony in this?

[CreekDog]

6. do tell us what the irony is

clearly there can't be any homophobes in San Francisco since there are so many gay people here.

or does that sound stupid now that i've put what you were implying in print?

[Are_grits_groceries]

18. I see the irony.

Of course there are homophobes in SF. However, it also has a huge and active gay population. That isn't the case in a lot of places.
That he would make that statement while playing in that city is ironic.

[lunasun]

9. He probably has played with gay players who must hide themselves and their loved ones

from bigots like this if they want to continue in a sport they love and have a talent for.

He is not sorry and the idiot did not write that apology
His team's PR unit is sorry but not for the correct reason imo

[dballance]

10. As Usual, In the Comments to the Article There is This:

"why do people have to apologize for having morals that are sustained in their religious beliefs?"

So, not being able to stop myself I replied:

Because an NFL football team is anything but a religious organization. So there is no basis whatsoever for discriminating against a gay player and not wanting them to be on the team. He's welcome to his beliefs, morals and religion. He's not welcome to insist a secular organization follow them. If a gay player joins the team he's free to resign from the team if it offends his morals or if he's under the delusion that just because he's another male all gay men want him so he can't be in the locker room with them.

Perhaps Culliver should familiarize himself with history and remember it wasn't all that long ago white players would have said the same sorts of things about having him on the team.

So his ability to forget the still recent (and continuing) discrimination of African Americans and be able to feel free to demean gays for "that sweet stuff" is just as bad as when whites stereotyped African Americans as "shucking and jiving."

That's why he needs to apologize.

[MrSlayer]

13. +1

Nice reply. I may have to borrow it.

[dballance]

14. I went back to the site to see if anyone replied to me - they had deleted it.

So I just posted it again since I could copy and paste from here. I'll see if they delete it again.

[dballance]

15. They deleted it again. So much for free speech on a TV news site. /eom

[sakabatou]

20. Probably reported by the homophobes on there

[d_r]

26. why would they delete that?

probably the allusion to shuck and jive - you weren't trying to be racist, you were trying to make a point, but it was probably interpreted as racist.

[dballance]

28. I Thought it Was Rather Clear Given the Context (Maybe They're Using Automated Software to Censor)

I wasn't endorsing or using the phrase "shucking and jiving" as part of my post but as an analogy to the disparaging remark Culliver made.

However you may be correct. They could very likely have automated software monitoring the posts with a list of banned phrases like that one. That type of software might not be able to discern the context as it blindly deletes posts with banned words or phrases. Now that I think about it I wonder if I threw some spaces or asterisks in there if the post would stay. I might try that.

[cash__whatiwant]

29. but the comment you were replying to is still there? wow. nt

[Iggo]

16. Apologies are for children. He's a grown man.

Fuck him and his self-serving apology.

[villager]

17. Apologies are for children? That must play hell in your relationships.

I mean, I know Hunter S. Thompson used to say "never apologize," but still....

[Iggo]

24. I don't need an apology from a grown up.

What I need is for them to either not fuck up in the first place, or if as in this case they already have fucked up, to admit they fucked up, fix it, and try not to do it again. Apologies are next to useless. They're what we make children do so that they learn their lesson. Other than that, they do no real good. Amends, however, are real. You fuck up, you fix it. I don't need to hear how sorry you are.

[villager]

25. Well, apologies are part of ownership of the fuck-up; the making amends

But hey, if you don't need 'em, ever, good on you...

[RudynJack]

19. That is one of the more

sincere apologies I've seen from a jerk, so I accept it.

[trumad]

21. Says it a day before Jackie Robinsons birthday.

Dumbass.

[Bucky]

22. Maybe "no gay players" meant only gay teammates w/strong family values in committed relationships

[davidpdx]

23. I'm a Niners fan and was disappointed with what he said the other day

Also given that it's the week before the Superbowl, the guy should have just kept his trap shut as he's a distraction to his team.

[Nye Bevan]

27. So, I wonder what he really believes?

The off-the-cuff comments that he made in the locker room? Or the carefully worded "apology" that was no doubt meticulously crafted by a PR team in a damage limitation attempt?

[TeamPooka]

30. I believed him more the first statments. This sounds like bullshit....

“The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel."
Then why did you say them and why are they in your head?