02/18/2008
Iowa QB Yordi on Gay Slur: 'Just Getting a Good Laugh Out of It'
Nick Yordi, a quarterback at Iowa's Wartburg College, testified in his disorderly conduct trial last Thursday that he was just being a "dumb college kid" when he used a homophobic slur against an openly gay student at the college last fall:
"Yordi testified he sometimes yells at pedestrians for amusement and said he didn't immediately recognize Joe Apel of East Dubuque, Ill. Apel, a junior at Wartburg, described himself as openly gay. Yordi said he was not aware of that fact. 'Didn't mean anything by it,' Yordi said. 'Never have. Just getting a good laugh out of it.' Jill Dashner, assistant attorney for Bremer County, argued the extent of Yordi's alleged remarks and circumstances leading up to the incident amount to a serious situation that cannot be written off as harmless, college-boy antics perpetrated by the quarterback of the football team. She added Yordi targeted Apel, who claims the defendant let loose a stream of vulgar words referencing homosexual acts. 'This is the type of thing that causes people great stress and anger and could actually cause a violent reaction,' Dashner said."
Yordi's disorderly conduct charge is a misdemeanor and carries a potential penalty of up to 30 days in jail and a $625 fine. The judge is expected to rule within thirty days.
Magistrate will decide case involving anti-gay slur at Wartburg [wcf courier]
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 3:45 PM EST by Andy in Football (American), Gay Slurs, Iowa, News | Permalink
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Yeah, it's hysterical to ridicule people and make the feel like crap by using a slur. What a good laugh. GMAB.
Posted by: FernLaPlante | Feb 18, 2008 4:15:58 PM
And whether he's using a slur or not, only a yobbo yells at people randomly for amusement.
Posted by: gregory brown | Feb 18, 2008 4:23:30 PM
Well, there goes my theory that football players are the least homophobic of all athletes (next to boxers, of course). And with Charles Barkley's positive comments recently...well, well, if a basketball player puts on some real beef, I can like him to. But don't come to me with no meat on bones like Iverson.
We're gonna' put some beef on Barack these next eight years in the White House.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Feb 18, 2008 4:31:06 PM
Yells at pedestrians for amusement?
Is that seriously his defense? Is Iowa really so dead boring that the best entertainment is standing on the street yelling at random people walking by?
In the civilized world, only bat-shit crazy people do that.
Tool.
Posted by: DC Guy | Feb 18, 2008 4:47:01 PM
DC Guy:
"Is Iowa really so dead boring that the best entertainment is standing on the street yelling at random people walking by?"
Yes.
"Tool."
Right again.
It's one thing for high school kids to do this kind of thing. It's quite another for college age people to do it... they're legally adults and are legally responsible for their actions. Further, football quarterbacks are highly visible representatives of the school. There should be consequences for this kind of behavior, and I'm glad that the authorities are taking it seriously.
Posted by: The Milkman | Feb 18, 2008 4:57:42 PM
Kid needs to Grow up!
Hopefully the judge will see some jail time fit and he will have some time to ponder such foolish childlike behavior (the fine is ludicrously simple). Footbal monkeyheads like this have always thoguht they can get away with making fun of people, no matter what walk of life. I blame him, his parents, his school. Grow up, people are people, time to learn compassion. And thank you again Andy for making sure we are all kept "aware", nto a day goes by that I do not read your blog 2,3 times. Kudos to you!
Posted by: john | Feb 18, 2008 4:58:32 PM
Tom, I am remarkably tolerant of the range of attractions that folks have. My own erotic turnons rouse suspicions time to time. But, nonetheless, sometimes I have to be mean and suggest that some mostly have taste in their mouths.
No offense intended. Y' know.
Posted by: gregory brown | Feb 18, 2008 7:36:35 PM
Quarterback, huh? Well maybe he'll score some jail time and come out a Wide Receiver. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!
Posted by: Bob R | Feb 18, 2008 9:29:05 PM
This is a voting age educated college student? Sounds like he needs to be sent back to high school, possibly even lower. Not much schoolin' in that thar head.
Posted by: woodroad34 | Feb 18, 2008 9:40:01 PM
Uhmm I have to say I don't really see what the crime he is presumably on trial for here actually is. The news stories I've seen merely state "the defendant let loose a stream of vulgar words referencing homosexual acts". I haven't seen any note of actual threats of any harm physical or otherwise being made. Yeah he's a dumb football player kid from slackjaw country who said some shitty homophobic and insulting things to someone who is gay. That's not a crime, nor should it ever be. The defense lawyer's argument is also absurd: "this is the type of thing that causes people great stress and anger and could actually cause a violent reaction,' Dashner said". If merely saying words that can cause other people "stress or anger" is a criminal offense then I should be serving a life sentence right now. I also find it rather objectionable that she ostensibly thinks its perfectly ok that the hearing of certain nasty words is sufficient cause for a "violent reaction".
Freedom of speech is important people, and I for one WANT the ability to freely refer to such douchebags like Yordi as the imbecilic, knuckledragging, meathead, inbred, trailer trash fuckwits that they are. Don't you?
Posted by: Blake | Feb 18, 2008 10:01:03 PM
This totally sucks. As an alumni of Wartburg and an Iowa native, I think it is also important to note that, although Iowa has its fair share of ignorant people (like this yahoo), this certainly doesn't speak for all Iowans. Wartburg, when I was there, had one angry lesbian. Today, Wartburg's gay community is growing and thriving. I hope that this doesn't reflect poorly on the school, it really is a great place.
Also, for the record, the football players when I was there were wonderful people and for fun they wouldn't shout out the windows of the dorms... they would streak... which I think any gay boy would appreciate.
Posted by: JMHCHICAGO | Feb 18, 2008 10:23:41 PM
Blake,
If you disrupt the daily lives of random people, you have no "right to free speech." That's why they arrested anti-war protestors for blocking streets and entrances to businesses / offices in 2003.
You can say whatever you want about Yordi on your own time.
If you waltz onto his front lawn at 2 AM and wake all his neighbors with a bullhorn, the police should arrest you. Some of those folks have to go to work tomorrow. Some of those folks have young kids. Some of those folks don't care.
Free speech doesn't merely protect the speaker. It also protects the audience. I don't have to listen to Blake's propaganda if I don't want to.
Iowa Criminal Code Section 723.4
DISORDERLY CONDUCT
A person commits a simple misdemeanor when the person does any of the following:
...
2. Makes loud and raucous noise in the vicinity of any residence or public building which causes unreasonable distress to the occupants thereof.
3. Directs abusive epithets or makes any threatening gesture which the person knows or reasonably should know is likely to provoke a violent reaction by another.
Posted by: John | Feb 18, 2008 10:28:02 PM
haha! exactly the response I expected. nice strawman arguments you've got there. I suppose at times like this I'm expected to act surprised at the level of ignorance and narrow minded hypocrisy on display in posts such as yours, but alas, after having seen it so many times, I am merely bored by it. Freedom of speech is intended to protect the very forms of speech which we find most offensive. No one has a right NOT to be offended by other people's words. No one.
Posted by: Blake | Feb 18, 2008 11:33:19 PM
Blake,
Bottom line. We're a nation of laws.
According to the United States Supreme Court, you have no "right" to hurl insults at random shoppers in the Walmart parking lot. You can choose to challenge that assumption at your convenience.
I, for one, hope they nail for both disorderly conduct and trespassing.
Posted by: John | Feb 19, 2008 12:06:54 AM
No, actually, the bottom line is that a great many people in this country (yourself being but one example) have a very shallow, self serving interpretation of the the first amendment to the constitution; and are thus ever too readily willing to abrogate its intent in the service of impulsively shortsighted minimal gain. The matter is to be dealt with solely between Yordi and the institution at which he resides, it is not a criminal matter.
Posted by: Blake | Feb 19, 2008 1:48:57 AM
The First Amendment a/k/a Freedom of Speech prohibits the GOVERNMENT from censoring speech. The intent was to foment a marketplace of political ideas. Moreover, there are Constitutionally permissible limitations, e.g., incitement to violence.
Posted by: rudy | Feb 19, 2008 8:06:33 AM
Did you even read any of the above commentary Einstein?
Posted by: Blake | Feb 19, 2008 11:54:17 AM
Holy crap!
Joe Apel? I know that kid!
Never really liked him, but NO ONE deserves that bs.
Glad he did something about it, from what I heard he was mistreated in high school, too.
Posted by: journeybrasil | Feb 19, 2008 12:02:24 PM
How long until he's is posting on Craig's List looking for a "frat boy" J.O. buddy?
I can see it now, married guy looking to hook up while wife is out of town. I'm into toys, and black guys. 9+ move to the head of the line. LOL
Posted by: Richard S | Feb 19, 2008 4:32:39 PM
I am concerned that we are policing what people think and say. This smacks of "Big Brother". In a free society we should be free to offend, as long we we do not committ battery.
Posted by: Kiveon | Feb 20, 2008 6:10:33 AM
Though I think his actions are not excusable, we do live in a country with free speech. He can say anything he wants as long as it is not threatening. If the school expeled him, that is within their right, however for this to become a legal matter violates free speech.
Posted by: Jesse | Feb 20, 2008 2:42:43 PM
Unfortunately, contrary to the goal of rational discussion, most of you seem to have a personal definition of "Free Speech" that does not comport with that which has been developed through judicial precedent.
Posted by: rudy | Feb 23, 2008 2:05:58 PM
More to the point, he's hawt, and I'd bang him ... twice and once in the shower.
Posted by: Rich | Mar 15, 2008 12:34:02 AM
I know Nick, in fact I was on the Wartburg football team with him in 2006. Since I attended Wartburg I know things about Joe Apel. He went to school administrators because of a facebook group about a student that was started by his friends. The group, which had nothing to do with Joe, was just a group of friends messing around, and the guy being bashed was even in the group and posting on the wall.
Was what Nick did wrong? Of course it was. Was what he did a criminal matter worthy of going to jail? NO!
If I tried to send someone to jail every time they offended me, I don't think I would ever leave a court room.
Posted by: Fakename | Apr 1, 2008 5:58:47 PM
P.S. I'm not gay, not antigay. If someone wants to be gay then great. I came across this site googleing this case because I went back to said facebook group, and thought it was the same Joe Apel.
GLBTQ or straight people these days need to have a thicker skin about what gets said. George Carlin said it best when he said:
"Political correctness is America's newest form of intolerance, and it is especially pernicious because it comes disguised as tolerance. It presents itself as fairness, yet attempts to restrict and control people's language with strict coeds and rigid rules. I'm not sure that's the way to fight discrimination. I'm not sure silencing people or forcing them to alter their speech is the best method for solving problems that go much deeper than speech." - George Carlin
Posted by: Fakename | Apr 1, 2008 6:04:55 PM
A totally hot QB! He can do or say whatever he wants! as long as I can watch him do it! SMOKIN'!
I'm glad he got off! Joe's lucky this guy said anything to him!
Posted by: Danny | Jul 10, 2008 1:40:33 AM
Just making sure this didn't die. Those fag-haters need to be punished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!1!!1!!!11!ONE!!!!!1!1111!!!UNO!111!!1!!1!1!!1
Posted by: Copious | Sep 19, 2008 6:38:26 PM