Thursday, November 18, 2004
Good heavens...
I still don't get the hullaballoo over the whole Nicollette Sheridan/Terrell Owens thing. It was funny, and yes, the inference was clear - Terrell's going to miss kickoff cause he's banging the slutty one on Desperate Housewives! - but it was just an inference. Tell your kids they're playing fantasy football. You won't be entirely incorrect.
But you know something serious has happened when Terrell Owens actually apologizes. Terrell has been acting like a jackass for most of his NFL career and hasn't apologized for squat. If the crap he's said about his former teammates and the stunts he pulls to show up opponents doesn't merit an apology, why would hugging a naked blonde?
Ask Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy, and the skit was racially offensive - which, if not progress, is at least different - once upon a time people taking offence at the racial overtones of the skit would have been white.
Jeff Chadiha suggests in this SI.com article that there would have been virtually no fuss if ABC had altered things slightly. Find a white player for Sheridan to jump on, or use Latina actress Eva Longoria. Of course, they're trying to promote Desperate Housewives, and if you watch the show, you know the skit fit Sheridan's character perfectly, but wouldn't have fit Longoria's. (Although if you found a player with a teenage son...) As for finding a white player - notice in his example Chadiha names Payton Manning. The top players in Monday's game were nearly all black - the lone exceptions being maybe Cowboys QB Vinny Testaverde or Eagles kicker David Akers - and none had a bigger profile than T.O. Why wouldn't it have been offensive to replace easily the most famous player in the game with a lesser known player just because the lesser known player was white?
I get Dungy's point. Chadiha says it just right:
There are good reasons to do or not do something. Allowing prejudiced people to feel comfortable with said prejudices is not one of them.
But you know something serious has happened when Terrell Owens actually apologizes. Terrell has been acting like a jackass for most of his NFL career and hasn't apologized for squat. If the crap he's said about his former teammates and the stunts he pulls to show up opponents doesn't merit an apology, why would hugging a naked blonde?
Ask Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy, and the skit was racially offensive - which, if not progress, is at least different - once upon a time people taking offence at the racial overtones of the skit would have been white.
Jeff Chadiha suggests in this SI.com article that there would have been virtually no fuss if ABC had altered things slightly. Find a white player for Sheridan to jump on, or use Latina actress Eva Longoria. Of course, they're trying to promote Desperate Housewives, and if you watch the show, you know the skit fit Sheridan's character perfectly, but wouldn't have fit Longoria's. (Although if you found a player with a teenage son...) As for finding a white player - notice in his example Chadiha names Payton Manning. The top players in Monday's game were nearly all black - the lone exceptions being maybe Cowboys QB Vinny Testaverde or Eagles kicker David Akers - and none had a bigger profile than T.O. Why wouldn't it have been offensive to replace easily the most famous player in the game with a lesser known player just because the lesser known player was white?
I get Dungy's point. Chadiha says it just right:
Dungy had that part right when he talked about the Owens segment reinforcing the racial stereotype of a black sexual predator being chased by a fawning white woman.(Except Terrell wasn't a predator - until the towel hit the ground, he really wanted to go play football.) But, unless a viewer has some hangup about black men and white women, the sketch worked perfectly with the participants it had.
There are good reasons to do or not do something. Allowing prejudiced people to feel comfortable with said prejudices is not one of them.
