As the fallout from Odell Beckham, Jr.’s meltdown and successive suspension continues, the Carolina Panthers cornerbacks continue to look like bullies who provoked an emotional player into an outburst of rage. Now, it seems like they haven’t been alone in stepping over the line to get in Beckham’s head.
Multiple sources have reported that Panthers players taunted Beckham with homophobic slurs, but Michael Irvin, who has been mentoring the young stud, told the New York Daily News this has been an ongoing issue:
Irvin said Beckham told him the Panthers were trash-talking at him with gay slurs and before the game taunted him with a baseball bat.
Beckham informed The Playmaker he has been “dealing with it every week,” Irvin told the Daily News.
“He deals with it a lot. For some reason, everybody goes after him with gay slurs. He’s a different kind of dude. He has the hairdo out, he’s not the big muscular kind of dude. The ladies all love him. He’s a star. I wonder why people are going in that direction. It blows my mind. I told him he can’t let stuff that people say get to you,” Irvin said.
Irvin went on to speculate that perhaps the reason Beckham’s been targeted like this is how famous and successful he’s been so quickly, and without team success. Maybe the league resents that and feels he hasn’t earned his flashy demeanor. Either way, there’s absolutely no excuse for that sort of behavior.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera has denied that his players used such language, but even in their public comments, those cornerbacks have used coded language which still borders on inappropriate and lends credence to the notion that they used even worse language without reporters present. Top corner Josh Norman called Beckham a “ballerina” and defensive back Cortland Finnegan (who is apparently back from retirement and still a dirtbag) went even further:
Asked why he thought Beckham acted like he did today, Cortland Finnegan: "Maybe it's in his blood. Maybe it's female-related."
— Black & Blue Review (@BlackBlueReview) December 20, 2015
Again, we say that Beckham is still responsible for his own inappropriate actions, and you can understand why he hasn’t gone public with these accusations — the cardinal rule of bullying is that without support from people of authority, telling on the bullies means worse treatment the next day without support from authority — but the NFL needs to take them seriously, if only because they have penalties for this in their rule book:
The league’s emphasis on sportsmanship last season led to a decrease of fouls in this area. In 2015, the same emphasis will be placed on eliminating abusive, threatening or insulting language directed at opponents, teammates, coaches, officials or representatives of the league. This includes racial slurs, comments regarding sexual orientation or other verbal abuse. Coaches, officials and other league personnel will be held to the same high standard.
We hope the NFL ensures Beckham doesn’t have to deal with such degrading treatment, but we’re not holding our breath for the pervasive and insidious culture of performative masculinity in the league to change anytime soon.
(Via Daily News)
