About the NFL/naked back controversy...

[UdoKier]

How much of the 'controversy' do you think was due to the fact that it was a BLACK man embracing a nude WHITE woman.

Reading descriptions about it before, I thought "Who cares?", but when I finally saw the clip on Faux News last night (Greta show) I thought "Oh, so that's it. He's BLACK."

Come on. If this had been Joe Namath in '72, nobody would've cared.

[DrWeird]

1. Almost entirely that.

And a little sprinkling of Comstock style pruddishness.

[Dhalgren]

2. I agree. A hyped up bunch of shit, all about racist adetudes...

[datasuspect]

9. didn't you know?

there isn't any racism in this country.

all you're doing is engaging in class warfare.

it's attitudes like yours that alienate the right, so don't play the race card otherwise you'll play into their hands.

/sarcasm

[Randypiper]

3. For anyone who hasn't seen it:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2004/11/16.html#a774

[AndyP]

8. Thanks, and you've got to be kidding me

What a bunch of whinning little bitches. I thought the the liberals were the ones that were supposed to be the whinning bitches. This looks like just about every soap opera ever made.

[Tim4319]

15. Thank you!

[jdj]

27. yes, if it had been the gropinator she jumped on they'd use it as an ad

in 08

White men, down here in the south anyway, have some kind of 'thang when it comes to this kind of stuff, so many of them are SO threatened by black men.

[fob]

12. Statement from NFL (from video)

"ABC's opening was inapproriate and unsuitable for our Monday Night Football audience. While ABC may have gained attention for one of it's other shows, the NFL and it's fans lost."


READ THE FIRST LINE AGAIN;

ABC's opening was inapproriate and unsuitable for our Monday Night Football audience.

So sex before a football game is anathema to 18-54 year old males? Are they fucking kidding me? The only thing that makes sense is racism. What they wanted to say was "we were wrong to let a black man see a naked white woman in bush*s puritanical revival Amerikkka, it won't happen again. Tune in next week when we'll have a good ole fashioned lynching as the promo!"

[doni_georgia]

23. NFL said it was "inappropriate" for it's viewers of Monday Night FBall

Yeah, right, only reason it was inappropriate was it didn't show any boobs! Good God those Herbal Essence shampoo commericals are more sexually explicit than this. Hell, I can think of a number of shower product commercials that show more skin than this and they play all day. What about the fucking - erectile disfunction commercials -That one with the "horny little devil" where the voice over goes - "He's ba-ack." Pulease!

[AndyP]

4. What was the controversy?

I haven't heard of this.

[Sandpiper]

5. Equal parts Prudery and Racism

n/t

[damntexdem]

6. Some African Americans have objected that it stereotypes AA males.

Actually, maybe what it really does is stereotype White females. ;-)

[Dhalgren]

11. Yeah, I've heard that "stereotype" crap.

If anything, it is a "male" stereotype. Any male of the species (who wasn't born homosexual, and maybe even some of those) who was presented with this scenario, would have reacted exactly like T.O. The only racism in this issue is the racism expressed by people who were "offended" by this trashy little intro. These same people are not offended by Fallujah, but by this???!!! Please....

[Sandpiper]

13. What stereotype?

That black men like women?

The stereotype argument is hogwash.

[chicagiana]

18. Blazing Saddles ...

"Where a all da white women!!!!"

Wow that skit was absolutely NOTHING!!!!

It implied that there were OMG, NAKED PEOPLE in this world!!!!

How dare they sully wholesome, bone-breaking, neck-jarring violent entertainment with NAKED HUMAN BACKS!!!!

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[trotsky]

16. By the "liberal media," perchance?

You know, the "liberal media" that is so prudish about sex.

[bunkerbuster1]

10. Well, yeah, it was slightly tacky.

And every dorky pre-Monday-Night-Football skit--not to mention the awfullness that is Hank Williams Jr.'s "music"--somehow isn't?

Wake me when this country grows up.

[Carni]

24. These right wingers need to get a life

The bit wasn't any more risque than the "Benny Hill Show" from 25 years ago (and incidentally most kids I knew were allowed to watch that myself included)

[jdj]

28. they will elect the gropinator if given half a chance.

and he's caught on film assaulting a woman.

[Tim4319]

14. Ding, Ding, Ding...... You deserve the grand prize!

That is the truth! The FCC makes mountains out of molehills!

[theboss]

17. I don't think Dan Rooney is a racist

And he's the one pitching the biggest fit about this.

I find the entire controversy a little bizarre. I mean, sports is allegedly "family entertainment" but you have half-naked cheerleaders, beer ads, Viagra ads, and brawls all over the place. I think the NFL is probably most upset about a player in uniform being involved in this without their knowledge beforehand.

I don't know. The skit was probably "inappropriate," whatever that may mean. But I can't believe we are still talking about days later.

[chicagiana]

19. Mommy ...

Mommy ... whats an "erection" and why does the man want one so much???

[MADem]

22. It was pre-planned

ABC can't charge huge ad rates, because football is losing market share (not sure why, but it is). Controversy makes people more aware of football, more likely to watch, and the network can raise their rates, pay more revenue to the NFL, and gain more viewers who will buy the crap the advertisers are selling.

They had to be sure they would incite a real controversy, so they mixed some some sex with a dash of (unacknowledged) racism, and Bob's yer uncle. They were really careful not to show ANYTHING, or say ANYTHING, that could get them in real trouble--the bulk of the suggestiveness was in the cutaway scene of the towel dropping, and the salacious looks that were exchanged between the actress and the football player.

The Viagra-type ads are just as naughty, really, the only difference is that they are always framed as though the couple is married...but the stupid looks and eye rolls and lounging in bathtubs by the side of a cliff--we all are supposed to figure that the dirty deed is gonna be done.

It's an issue of context, but if the FCC could do much with that, they may as well commission a cabinet position for a Secretary of Thought Enforcement.

I'm thinking ABC and the NFL had lawyers go over that ad carefully before they aired it. I also think the fake "apology" was designed to fan the flames of this faux controversy.

Cynical, maybe, but that's my take.

[Dhalgren]

29. If I understand it correctly,

Monday Night Football is losing money, but not TV football as a whole. That being said, however, the dollar amounts passed back and forth between advertisers, the teams, the NFL, and the networks is enough to fund a couple of Caligula's wars - so nothing would surprise me in the "outrage" department. Not anymore...

[Carni]

20. The whole thing is not only a non-issue the skit was funny IMO

I don't recall his exact words, but I thought it was very funny when the guy said "If you don't tell me what's at the bottom of that pool you got nothing" (something like that)

I think that's when she drops the towel.

I thought the bit was kind of funny!

On Edit: I guess the bottom of the pool comment would only be funny if you watched the show she's on--he was supposed to be annoyed that the mystery of what is at the bottom of the pool is still being kept a secret from the audience!

[GumboYaYa]

21. The whole damn thing is racism rearing its ugly head.

Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson practically ass f$#@ed during the Super Bowl show and all anyone thought was obscene was Janet's nipple. If there was anything obscene about that show it was the graphic ass f$#%ing. Nothing was ever mentioned about that in all the outrage, but a commercial that suggests the possibility that a white woman has sex with a black man is outrageous.

Yep, nothing but racism here folks.

[livinginphotographs]

25. I didn't even hear about this.

Please slip a note under my rock and elaborate...

[Columbia]

26. Good article here

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/jeffri_chadiha/11/18/chadiha.to/index.html?cnn=yes

[ProfessorGAC]

30. 75%

I'd say the uproar would still exist over the naked lady part, but it would be 1/4th of what it is now.

The bigots are frothing over the sex part because they can look "moral" in their outrage. If they openly admitted that the black man/white woman thing was the real cause of their discomfort, they couldn't hide behind "morality".

But, seeing a naked woman from behind would not be nearly as objectionable if she hadn't been seducing a controversial black athlete.
The Professor

[Liberal Mommy]

31. Even Jon Stewart gets it

He referenced the football ad on his show. He then went into a joke about how outraged people were because he jumped into Dave Chappelle's arms, who then carried him off the show. Sounds to me that he was hinting in his oh so clever way that he thinks it is racist too.

[ProfessorGAC]

34. There's No Question About It For Me

Thanks Momof3, and welcome to the fray.
The Professor

[datasuspect]

32. does it really surprise anybody?

[obreaslan]

33. Absolutely!

If we had see a white woman and a white man, most of these hippocritical fundies would have just said, "Awww, ain't it cute."

But have the white woman jump into the arms of a black man, and its "Oh my god!"

Espesially someone as controversial as T.O.

I was upset to hear him apologize yesterday. He did nothing wrong.

Go E-A-G-L-E-S!!!!:bounce:



edit:because I can't spell. :)

[omshanti]

35. If she had jumped in Tom Brady's arms -- no controversy.

I agree with you there.
(For the non-NFL fans, Tom Brady is a GQ-looking white boy who is the current media darling)

[RivetJoint]

36. Tony Dungy, a Black coach, said it was a racist "commercial."