Is Calling Cam Newton A 'Thug' A PC-Version Of The 'N-Word'? [VALENTI AND FOSTER - AUDIO]
By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby
In leading his Panthers to this year's Super Bowl, Cam Newton unwillingly created the mother of all hot take breeding grounds.
The opinions, both educated and not, have been flowing steadily for weeks. It's not news that Newton does the popular "dab" dance move when he scores a touchdown, or that he rips a shirt off in a Superman impersonation during pregame.
But the righteous anger and pearl-clutching that those actions inspire came to a steady boil as the Panthers started stacking up their wins. A woman wrote a letter to the editor for the Charlotte Observer, explaining she had taken her daughter to the Panthers-Titans game and was disappointed in Newton's celebratory actions. 'What do I tell my daughter?' about Newton's "egotism, arrogance and poor sportsmanship" was her panic-stricken question.
Social media has been overcome with Newton opinions. Anything from the quarterback's touchdown celebrations to his "fake" smile has been material for the hot take cannons.
And the word that has appeared often? "Thug."
Detroit radio hosts Mike Valenti and Terry Foster called out the racist undertones to much of the complaints leveled at Newton.
"When people call Cam Newton things like a thug, that's a racial term," Valenti said. "You don't hear white players described as thugs. You only hear black men described as thugs."
Last week, Newton added fuel to the fire.
"I'm an African American quarterback that scares people because they haven't seen nothing that they can compare me to," he told reporters. "People are going to judge and have opinions on things I don't have control over."
Thanks to that quote, many on social media claimed Newton was playing the "race card," and that he was bringing up race where it didn't belong.
"Cam Newton did not start the racial talk," Foster said. "White people did by calling him a thug. White people did by asking him the question and white people did when Cam Newton first of all said he didn't want to do it, and then said, 'you know what, damnit, I'm gonna address this now.' He didn't start this, simple as that."
The show discussed the disparity between what people call troublesome white athletes, compared to the words levied at black athletes.
"From what I see in sports, Johnny Manziel is a thug but no one calls him that," Foster said.
The two hosts agreed that "thug" was simply a more accepted, "PC" version of the n-word.
"You want to get in the business of calling him a thug," Valenti said. "I think you're communicating a lot more about yourself than anything else because thug is absolutely (a racial term), until you can provide a bunch of people picking up the phone and telling me another football player that's white called a thug. Tell me another white basketball player called a thug, but then go back and look, guys like JR Smith – 'thug.' … Oh, Rajon Rondo, 'thug.' Boogie Cousins, 'thug.' Monta Ellis, 'thug.' Monta Ellis is married a to a cop, for godsakes. You can't come up with a white guy who gets the same categorization. So tell me it's not racial when people are throwing the thug tagline at Cam."
Newton, who is the front-runner to win MVP honors in the NFL this year, and who led the Panthers to a one-loss regular season before making it to the Super Bowl, has had the most successful season of his young career. As a former No. 1 draft pick, he has lived up to the hype.
But his self-confidence and his exuberant love for the game – usually expressed through dance – have taken over the conversation.
"Cam Newton faces a different level of criticism and is predisposed to judgment because of his race," Valenti said. "That ain't right, but it's real. Stop taking race out of it when race is the primary part of it."
Listen to the whole show clip below: