12/14/2006
Steeler Joey Porter Slapped with $10K Fine for Gay Slur
One week after Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter called Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow, Jr. a "fag" in comments to media outlets following a game, the NFL has hit Porter with a $10,000 fine.
Porter "apologized" on Tuesday saying he didn't mean to offend anyone — except Winslow: "You know, that was probably a poor choice of words. So if I offended anybody, I apologize for that...I don't know ... I guess because how we used that word freely, me growing up using that word, I didn't think anything of it. Like I said, I apologize to anyone I may have offended. I didn't mean to offend anybody but Kellen Winslow."
It's the second fine this year for Porter. He was fined $15,000 earlier in the season for running at the mouth about an official during a game.
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Posted 3:45 PM EST by Andy Towle in Football (American), Gay Slurs, Joey Porter, Kellen Winslow Jr., News, Sports | Permalink
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I think the word, 'Neanderthal',comes to mind.
Posted by: cliff | Dec 15, 2006 7:14:12 AM
Agreed Cliff. I don't see "an uneducated black man" with Porter. I see a hulking, mouth breathing idiot.... exactly as I viewed John Rocker a few years ago when he made his asshole comments while playing for the Braves.
Posted by: mark m | Dec 15, 2006 8:40:37 AM
I grew up in Pissburgh, um Pittsburgh in the 1960' and 70's. Horrible city, then and now. I have never met so many people so... content with their ignorance. Calling people fag, n**ger, spic, cunt, kike, etc... is "just a part of our fabric", and they see nothing wrong with it. After being out of that environment for so long, and then having to step back into it when I had to bury my father in 2000... just shocked me that such... horrible... concepts are still alive. I read about the gay bars being routinely riddled by drive by bullets, and nothing being done about it. Then visited the city and learned why; they think that's normal.
Horrible city. Ignorant people live there, and the medical community SUCKS. If you get sick in Pittsburgh, GET OUT OF TOWN before the doctors kill you.
Posted by: Rad | Dec 15, 2006 9:37:01 AM
I'm surprised no one has commented on the fact the fine for calling someone a fag is less than the fine for simply complaining about an official.
Posted by: Chesnut | Dec 15, 2006 9:49:57 AM
Chesnut, now that is interesting. I wasn't aware of that difference.
You know, European football (i.e., soccer) has taken great strides to eliminate racism and other biases from their sport and from games - including bad behavior by fans. It seems that Europe has decided that they don't want to have a society in which it is considered OK to denigrate entire groups of people with epithets and the like. As in so many other things, I wish we could be more like the Europeans.
One more comment about Shirley and then I will let it go. The reason that I am such a fan of Shirley Q. Liquor is not *because* she is performed by a white man in drag but rather because she reminds me so much of people I grew up around and also because her banter reminds me so much of the gay slang used in my adopted hometown. If you ever were to be around me and my best friend from back home you'd swear you were listening to one of Shirley's routines!
While some people may be offended by any white person impersonating a black person, you gotta remember that Shirley is a character and isn't being presented as a "real" person. In none of the routines I have ever heard has she used the "N-word". Nor do I think that the object of the actor/creator is to put down black people. Shirley's fans love her because of her sarcastic humour and abuse of the English language, not because she's really a white man in drag.
Was anyone offended by the Wayans brothers impersonating ditzy white girls in their movie? How is that performance materially different from Shirley's?
Posted by: Jonathon | Dec 15, 2006 11:22:11 AM
Does anyone know what the money for these fines is used for? Does the money just go back into the league?
Shouldn't the money be used for pro-GLBT charities?
Posted by: RP | Dec 15, 2006 11:42:41 AM
Race is not central to everything in life. Porter is simply a dumb jock... black, white, red, purple, green aside. Dumb AND unhappy... that's the energy he gives off.
Posted by: CaliNexus | Dec 15, 2006 11:55:26 AM
It WAS A Joke Cadence but yes he is just a DUMB ASS JOCK
Posted by: Richie | Dec 15, 2006 2:38:11 PM
The word fag or faggot should be used only by gay people. Anyone thats straight should not be using it. It is should be just like the "N" word. PERIOD.
Posted by: joe | Dec 15, 2006 2:48:10 PM
Jonathon, yes a lot of people were offended by the Wayan's brothers movie, both because of their stereotypical depiction of White women and the film's lazy writing and directing.
Your opinion that Shirley represents real people is one of the reasons that the character is so offensive. She represents an ignorant White person's view of what Black females are like. Shirley doesn't represent a real people, and one of the problems is that many of her White fans aren't intelligent enough to know that.
Posted by: Cadence | Dec 15, 2006 3:46:28 PM
Cadence, Shirley does indeed represent people that I have personally known and still know. (And not all of them were black! There are some pretty "ignunt" white folks with an equally-challenged ability to speak English.) Maybe you aren't from the South, but folks like Shirley do indeed exist down here.
Do I think that Shirley represents ALL black women? HELL NO! For every "Shirley" that I know, there are dozens more women who are the exact polar opposite: beautiful, educated, well-mannered, well-spoken, etc. Maybe other people have a problem separating fantasy from reality, but it isn't a problem for me. I can enjoy Shirley's antics without having to then think that all black people are just like her.
Are all white women like the stereotypes that the Wayans brothers portrayed? Of course not! But I am sure there are indeed some "white chicks" who fit in well with the Wayans' characters. Sure, the film was awful, but aren't most "successful" American films nowadays? It was just one more stupid movie in the make of the greats like "The Animal", "Happy Gilmore" or "Waterboy".
Following the same line of thought, what do you (Cadence) think of drag queens in general? Aren't they exaggerating the way that women look and behave? Do you think that we all think that "real" women are just like the drag queen we may see at the bar on a Saturday night? Is their act "offending" real women?
Posted by: Jonathon | Dec 15, 2006 4:06:29 PM
Ten thousand dollars? What is that to him? A bottle or two of Kristal at some club? He won't even miss that from his bank account.
Seriously... if Professional sports players are going to be fined by their league for their actions, the amounts should be adjusted upwards to take their now astronomical salaries into consideration. I'm sure that ten grand was a sizeable chunk of change back in the 70's but not now, when multimillion dollar contracts are the standard rather than the exception.
Posted by: mike | Dec 15, 2006 5:11:26 PM
Jonathon, yes I am from the south. And I've encountered too many bigoted White people who think that Black people who don't fit into the Shirley stereotype are the exception. That image has been paraded out too much through the years, starting out in minstrel shows, for people not to know how offensive it is.
Besides that, most people know the offensive history of
Black face, and know how it has been used to demean Black people.
If Knipp's character could be any race, then why does he have to perform in Black face? He knows how derrogatory his act is, but he doesn't care, because it doesn't offend him or those who look like him.
Furthermore, even the tone of Knipp's act is condescending and offensive. I think some people would look past the Black face, if he didn't make it clear that his intent is to be demeaning. Nothing about his act makes it seem like he is trying to do satire. Knipp is nothing more than a coward.
Posted by: Cadence | Dec 15, 2006 5:35:11 PM
That's an interesting point about drag queens. Given that drag queens are men celebrating, but often mocking an extreme version of a woman, yes, I can see why some women would find it offensive.
And Jonathan I am in the South as well. You don't get any more Southern than Alabama - well except maybe Mississippi. And the whites I have encountered (NOT saying you are one) who enjoy Shirly Q, are often people who like to mock blacks in general.
DISCLAIMER: racism is NOT exclusive to the South, gay white men or any race for that matter. The South has that rep but I have traveled a great deal and encountered people with bigoted attitudes from New York to San Fransisco to Miami.
Last time I was in New York, I was with a friend who is Puerto Rican. One of his Puerto Rican friends, whom I had never met, was making jokes at my expense because I was from Alabama. By the weekend he was apologizing to me because he realized that he had made certain assumptions about me and that he had been quick to judge.
Posted by: mark m | Dec 15, 2006 6:17:37 PM
You are all jealous because you are waiters.
Please go to see how your mama and sisters and daddy are forever happy.
www.Darkcavern.com
Posted by: Danny Lo | Dec 16, 2006 10:48:13 AM
You can say what ever you want but look at the hungry white people.
This is huge, mommy,sister,aunt ,grandma
are happy now.
www.darkcavern.com
Posted by: Danny Lo | Dec 16, 2006 11:02:44 AM