Newton mocks female journo over sports term
JESSICA Mendoza is analysing Major League Baseball games on ESPN, Beth Mowins is calling NFL games for CBS, and Doris Burke is part of the broadcast team for NBA games on ESPN.
But to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, a female reporter getting into the nitty-gritty of a football game is apparently still surprising.
Newton, who won the 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player Award, is known for outlandish outfits at news conferences and for having a personality that can go from charming to prickly in an instant.
During his news media availability on Wednesday, he stirred up controversy when Jourdan Rodrigue, who covers the Panthers for the Charlotte Observer, asked Newton about the route running of receiver Devin Funchess.
As Rodrigue said the word “routes”, Newton cracked a broad smile, and when Rodrigue had finished her question, he began his response by saying, “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes,” with an emphasis on the “routes”.
Newton went on to answer the question, but his initial re s p o ns e d re w c r i t i c i s m online.
Rodrigue said on Twitter that she confronted Newton after the news conference and that his response in private was “worse”.
In a statement to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, she said: “I sought Mr Newton out as he left the locker room a few minutes later. He did not apologise for his comments.”
The statement also said: “This afternoon, I did my job as an NFL beat writer and asked Cam Newton a question about one of his receivers. I was dismayed by his response, which not only belittled me but countless other women before me and beside me who work in similar jobs.”
There may have been a second meeting between Newton and Rodrigue, according to a statement sent to Rapoport from the Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond.
‘Out of line’
The statement said: “I have spoken with Jourdan and Cam and I know they had a conversation where he expressed regret for using those words. We strive as a department to make the environment for media comfortable for everyone covering the team.”
The Associated Press reported that Executive Sports Editor of the Observer Mike Persinger had characterised the comments from Newton as “unfortunate and out of line”.
Poor behaviour by Newton at a news conference is hardly new. He famously pouted his way through his interview session after Carolina lost badly to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.
But this particular incident comes as women are being given bigger roles on sports broadcasts. And Rodrigue, who has been covering the Panthers for the Observer for more than a year, is one of dozens of female beat reporters and columnists currently covering the NFL.
Newton, who is returning from offseason shoulder surgery, has led the Panthers to a 3-1 record and is coming off his best game of the season, in which he threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns in a 33-30 victory over the New England Patriots.
In that game, Newton joined in recent league-wide protests by raising his left fist after a touchdown, echoing a gesture made famous by civil rights activists in the 1960s.
“It was to signify black power,” Newton told reporters after the game, “but more important, I pray every night for God to give me a pinnacle to give people hope.”
Newton has yet to publicly comment on Wednesday’s incident.
The NFL’s Week 5 kicks off when the New England Patriots take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, at 7:25am this morning Cambodian time.