Cam apologizes for sexist remark, says joke is ‘on me’
It took over 24 hours, but Cam Newton did apologize for demeaning a female reporter during a Panthers press conference.
In a nearly twominute video posted to his Twitter page Thursday night, the quarterback owned up to his sexist remark when he said he found it “funny” to hear Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer ask a question about one of his receiver’s routes.
“After careful thought, I understand that my word choice was extremely degrading and disrespectful to women. And to be honest, that was not my intention,” Newton said. “And if you are a person who took offense to what I said, I sincerely apologize.
“I’m a man who tries to be a positive role model in my community and tries to use my platform to inspire others. And I take ownership to everything that comes with that and what I did was extremely unacceptable.” Newton, who lost Dannon as a sponsor Thursday over his comment, said he’s learned from his mistake and hopes women, including his two young daughters, will forgive him.
“I’m a father to two beautiful daughters and at their age, I try to instill in them that they can do and be anything that they want to be,” Newton continued. “And the fact that during this whole process, I’ve already lost sponsors and countless fans, I realize that the joke is really on me. I’ve learned a valuable lesson from this.
“And to the young people who see this, I hope that you learn something from this, as well. Don’t be like me, be better than me. And to the reporters, to the journalists, to the moms, the supermoms, to the daughters, the sisters and the women all around the world, I sincerely apologize and hope that you can find the kindness in your heart to forgive me.”
Newton’s words were condemned by countless organizations Wednesday, including the NFL — who called them “plain wrong and disrespectful to the exceptional female reporters and journalists who cover our league” — and the Association for Women in Sports Media.
While the Panthers said Newton had expressed regret for his remark in a statement released following the press conference, Rodrigue gave a different account of the aftermath. She said she confronted Newton in the locker room later on and the encounter was “worse” than the original Q&A session.