It’s not a huge surprise that I’m not a fan of mainstream media, especially when it comes to my sports. ESPN, Sports Center, heck, even local media in Denver, always has a specified agenda to perpetuate. That’s not a surprise. It’s about that bottom line, however there is a line that should never be crossed.
I’m all for jokes, comedy, shits and giggles, sophomoric laughs and slander. Shoot, this is the whole basis of my twitter page, however, there is this thin line of what’s in good taste and what’s tactless. If you’re a nation wide sports journalist whom gets on his pedestal and condemns other’s about their racist comments, but then turn around and crack an Asian joke, how is that okay????
Here is the deal: After Friday night’s MONSTROUS game in which Jeremy Lin and his 38 points, TORCHED the Lakers, Fox Sports own Jason Whitlock took to twitter with this tweet:
I get it. He was making an attempt at humor, however, he is isn’t getting paid for his ill-timed and NOT funny jokes, but rather his perspective on sports. This is where the problem lies. He is one that, in the past, complains about racists, but in turn made a racist remark. Is it because he is an African-American?? Should he not be held accountable? Is it because Lin is Asian-American that makes this to be pushed under the rug??
That’s the double standard.
If it was I, on an ENORMOUS platform such as Twitter, working for a nationally recognized media machine, making a joke like this “HEY! Looks like someone is eating all the chicken, waffles and watermelon they want tonight” towards an African-American; you bet your pretty little ass there would be a MASSIVE outrage.
What’s good for the goose SHOULD be good for the gander.
I get Linsanity. I’ve cried watching Tiger Woods win a major golf championship. Jeremy Lin, for now, is the Tiger Woods of the NBA. I suspect Lin makes Asian Americans feel the way I feel when I watch Tiger play golf.
I should’ve realized that Friday night when I watched Lin torch the Lakers. For Asian Americans and a lot of sports fans, his nationally televised 38-point outburst was the equivalent of Tiger’s first victory in The Masters. I got caught up in the excitement. I tweeted about what a great story Lin is and how he could rival Tim Tebow.
I then gave in to another part of my personality — my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. It’s been with me since birth, a gift from my mother and honed as a child listening to my godmother’s Richard Pryor albums. I still want to be a standup comedian.
The couple-inches-of-pain tweet overshadowed my sincere celebration of Lin’s performance and the irony that the stereotype applies to pot-bellied, overweight male sports writers, too. As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry.
That’s a nice half-assed apology if I’ve ever seen one. I’ll be honest, I take what Whitlock says about sports with a grain of salt, but the double standard, here, runs afoot. This is what it boils down to for me: he apologized for debasing a feel-good sports moment, but evading apologizing for perpetuating a racial stereotype.
There is a HUGE double-standard when it comes to Asian-Americans and that’s the one item that is unsettling to even a slandress such as myself.
Jason Whitlock: you win the “Sack Of Douche Award” this week. Have fun with your couple inches of pain.
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on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.
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