CNN's Roland Martin Should Just Admit His Homophobia

on February 9, 2012 at 10:58 AM

Suspended CNN Analyst Roland Martin has learned a hard lesson this week. When you take to Twitter during the Super Bowl and use homophobic statements, people are going to get mad, and you probably will lose your job. Hey, you know what they say about karma, right?

Of course the guy who tweets as @rolandsmartin is backpedaling faster than Lance Armstrong on rewind on my DVR right now after making several cracks about "real bruhs" who would dare line up to buy underwear from David Beckham's new H&M line. Martin's sticking to his claims that he was making fun of men for liking Beckham because he's a soccer player. Get that?

It's not really about liking the man's fine curves because you are a little light in the loafers. It's because only real pansies are soccer fans!

Oh. Wait. Doesn't that sound a wee bit . . . homophobic?

Let's take a look at the original series of Tweets, shall we?

If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham's H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl

Ain't no real bruhs going to H&M to buy some damn David Beckham underwear! #superbowl

Did you catch the word "real?" Because certainly the best way to define a man as "real" is to ensure he only do manly man things like watch football, wear ugly boxer briefs his Mommy purchased for him (and then marked with his initials in permanent marker on the waistband), and smash beer cans on his forehead. Right? Oh, no? That's not it either?

This is the problem with using gender stereotypes as insults. They serve no purpose but to belittle people who don't fit into your narrow worldview. The fact is, my very straight husband loves both soccer and fashion. And wouldn't you know it, he happened to be watching the Super Bowl because he's a football fan too! Stereotype busted!

Trash talking in sports is a long-standing tradition, but it's supposed to be done all in good fun. It's not supposed to be a means to cut actual people down. This is what Martin needs to understand.

You can't use homophobic statements and then pretend you didn't say them; you need to own up to it, apologize, and then take a long, hard look at how you talk about sports. Hating soccer is fine; but how about bashing the game, not belittling the fans?

How did you take Martin's tweets?

Image via Twitter

About the author Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. Diet Pepsi courses through her veins. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

Filed Under: athletes, fans

Comments (7)

Snarkymom

on Feb 9, 2012 at 11:23 AM

I think everyone else made it a bigger deal that was intended. People are so quick to cry about being offended and wanting someone fired for it. Ya'll better be careful...this is the beginning of EVERYONE being told what they cannot do or say. Reeks of big brother to me...

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missusmc

on Feb 9, 2012 at 11:33 AM

I have no doubt that he is probably homophobic... HOWEVER, I don't get homophobia from these tweets. Archaic stereotypes of what a "real man" should be like? Sure. But homophobia? Not so much. He's a jerk, for sure, but I think there are bigger issues out there to be concerned with than this. Also, twitter is not the same as a news report or news story. Language is much more informal. For anyone to seriously take his tweets as a call to violence against gay men is just ridiculous. I use "violent" speech in my conversations sometimes (I'll kill you if you hurt my child, eg) but it's not real- it's just a figure of speech. Did anyone actually take him seriously?

Also, why is it GLAAD's place to decide who should be disciplined and/or fired from a job? Not cool.

zandhmom2

on Feb 9, 2012 at 12:35 PM

I am so sick of everything being consider homophobic. Jeez, I use the express "real man" all the time. It doesn't mean it refers to a man sexuality...it is meant to mean a stand up, strong and responsible man. I find it ironic that GLAAD can use it's power to have people fired and people accept that but when that group wanted Ellen fired for being gay, everyone went crazy over it.

twokidsrme

on Feb 9, 2012 at 1:15 PM

THANK YOU SNARKYMOM! I AGREE WITH YOU COMPLETELY! I found absolutely nothing homophobic about his tweets. I just think certain people and groups LOVE getting on their soapboxes and pointing their fingers. As if they are just waiting to pounce. Ugh!

i.payton

on Feb 9, 2012 at 11:36 PM

I don't know if my brain is just dead right now or what, but I have no idea what "smack the ish out of [someone]" is supposed to mean. What's 'ish'?

Eversnow

on Feb 10, 2012 at 7:10 AM

i.payton, It means shit. I seen nothing homophobic about the tweets. I too use the phrase real man to describe a stand up, strong and responsible man like zandhmom2. I don't use it to insight hate on gays, Because I know quite a few gay men who are " real men."

icegirl11

on Feb 14, 2012 at 6:45 PM

IMO when I read his tweets I thought the first was pretty homophobic. The way I read it was as though if a guy was looking forward to the David Beckham commercial then he needed to be smacked. Because this must mean that if you as a guy are looking forward to seeing a dude in his undies than that's something that would get you smacked. The second tweet just seemed stupid to me. What's his beef with David Beckham selling undies?? lol It's a commercial and any "real bruh" can choose to buy or not by a product. Not sure if H&M would have used a different dude to sell some underwear, would this guy Martin been ok with that? I think that the issue this guy and probably other men had, was the fact that David was in his undies and looked good doing it! So instead of just moving on, he had to say something about it. IDK but my final thought was that I loved the commercial! As woman who always see commercials with half naked chicks selling everything under the sun, I finally had a commercial to look forward to lol! :)