CAM FUMBLES
QB answers reporter query with sexist quip
Cam Newton’s comments on Wednesday were no laughing matter.
The Panthers quarterback received a quality question from reporter Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer during a Wednesday press conference, one that didn’t seem out of the ordinary.
“I know you take a lot of pride in seeing your receivers play well. (Panthers wide receiver) Devin Funchess has seemed to really embrace the physicality of his routes and getting those extra yards,” Rodrigue began. “Does that give you a little bit of an enjoyment to see him kind of truck-sticking people out there?”
Seems like a fair question. Newton didn’t think so, though, smirking as she asked it.
“It’s funny to hear a female,” he said, “talk about routes.”
His dismissive and condescending attitude was unwarranted, and Rodrigue made that clear after the press conference.
“I don’t think it’s ‘funny’ to be a female and talk about routes. I think it’s my job,” she wrote on women before me and beside me who work in similar jobs. I sought Mr. Newton out as he left the locker room a few minutes later. He did not apologize for his comments.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday night in a statement that Newton’s comments “are just plain wrong and disrespectful to the exceptional female reporters and all journalists who cover our league. They do not reflect the thinking of the league.”
Drummond said the Panthers “strive as a department to make the environment for media comfortable for everyone covering the team.”
Mike Persinger, the executive sports editor of The Charlotte Observer, said Newton’s comments were “unfortunate and out of line.” “The question Jourdan asked during the news conference was a good one, like countless other questions about football strategy and nuance she has asked in the course of doing her job,” Persinger said. GETTY