Rush Limbaugh Draws Fire for Racial Remark About Black Quarterbacks
By Ed Wiley III, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted September 30, 2003 -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, now an NFL analyst for ESPN, is again in the hot seat for racially offensive statements.
On Sunday, during ESPN’s televised pregame show, former NFL quarterback Steve Young questioned McNabb’s “ability to run the offensive,” saying that his White backup, Koy Detmer, would likely do a better job.
Limbaugh chimed in. “I think the sum of what you’re all saying is that Donavan McNabb is regressing, he’s going backward,” Limbaugh said. “Sorry to say this, I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go.”
But Limbaugh didn’t stop there.
“The media has been very desirous that a Black quarterback do well. “There is a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.”
A spokesman for ESPN defended Limbaugh, saying it was an honest discussion about McNabb’s development.
But this isn’t the first time that Limbaugh, a former radio and TV talk show host who was a finalist for the Monday Night Football, has been criticized for acidic remarks against African Americans. He once told a Black caller to his radio show to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” In another instance, he said, “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”
In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Phil Sheridan, a White sports columnist, took Limbaugh and his network to task.
“With that record – kept by a group called Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR – ESPN gave this guy a job commenting on a league in which the majority of the players are Black. ESPN, which is essentially a corporate partner of the NFL, gave this job to Limbaugh even as the league struggles with its own notorious paucity of minority coaches and general managers.”
The NFL and its coaches have been under fire for many years for their failure to draft or play Black quarterbacks. One of the most tacit criticisms of Black quarterbacks is that they are “good athletes” but lack the intelligence to run complicated offenses or read defenses.
In 1985, Sheridan notes, when the Eagles drafted Randall Cunningham, a journalist asked him, “What makes you think you’ll ever be able to erad NFL defenses?” Three years later, it was big news that Doug Williams, a Black quarterback was to start in the Super Bowl for Washington that year. (He went on to win most valuable player.) In the days leading up to that game, a White sports writer asked, “How long have you been a Black qarterback?”
“Fortunately for McNabb, his record speaks for itself. But so does Limbaugh’s” Sheridan said. “Unfortunately for ESPN, as long as he’s on the air, Limbaugh’s record speaks for the network, too.”
Limbaugh isn’t the first White football analyst to draw fire for insensitive comments. In 1988, CBS commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder suggested that Black athletes excelled because they bred by slave masters to be strong. “The slave owner would breed this big Black with this big Black woman so he could have a big Black kid,” Snyder told a reporter. That's where it all started." Snyder was fired shortly afterward.
In 1983, during a broadcast of Monday Night Football, veteran sports commentator Howard Cosell exclaimed, "Look at that little monkey run!" about Washington Redskins receiver Alvin Garrett, an African American. Cosell resigned two months later, following intense public outcries.
By Ed Wiley III, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted September 30, 2003 -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, now an NFL analyst for ESPN, is again in the hot seat for racially offensive statements.
On Sunday, during ESPN’s televised pregame show, former NFL quarterback Steve Young questioned McNabb’s “ability to run the offensive,” saying that his White backup, Koy Detmer, would likely do a better job.
Limbaugh chimed in. “I think the sum of what you’re all saying is that Donavan McNabb is regressing, he’s going backward,” Limbaugh said. “Sorry to say this, I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go.”
But Limbaugh didn’t stop there.
“The media has been very desirous that a Black quarterback do well. “There is a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.”
A spokesman for ESPN defended Limbaugh, saying it was an honest discussion about McNabb’s development.
But this isn’t the first time that Limbaugh, a former radio and TV talk show host who was a finalist for the Monday Night Football, has been criticized for acidic remarks against African Americans. He once told a Black caller to his radio show to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.” In another instance, he said, “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?”
In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, Phil Sheridan, a White sports columnist, took Limbaugh and his network to task.
“With that record – kept by a group called Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR – ESPN gave this guy a job commenting on a league in which the majority of the players are Black. ESPN, which is essentially a corporate partner of the NFL, gave this job to Limbaugh even as the league struggles with its own notorious paucity of minority coaches and general managers.”
The NFL and its coaches have been under fire for many years for their failure to draft or play Black quarterbacks. One of the most tacit criticisms of Black quarterbacks is that they are “good athletes” but lack the intelligence to run complicated offenses or read defenses.
In 1985, Sheridan notes, when the Eagles drafted Randall Cunningham, a journalist asked him, “What makes you think you’ll ever be able to erad NFL defenses?” Three years later, it was big news that Doug Williams, a Black quarterback was to start in the Super Bowl for Washington that year. (He went on to win most valuable player.) In the days leading up to that game, a White sports writer asked, “How long have you been a Black qarterback?”
“Fortunately for McNabb, his record speaks for itself. But so does Limbaugh’s” Sheridan said. “Unfortunately for ESPN, as long as he’s on the air, Limbaugh’s record speaks for the network, too.”
Limbaugh isn’t the first White football analyst to draw fire for insensitive comments. In 1988, CBS commentator Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder suggested that Black athletes excelled because they bred by slave masters to be strong. “The slave owner would breed this big Black with this big Black woman so he could have a big Black kid,” Snyder told a reporter. That's where it all started." Snyder was fired shortly afterward.
In 1983, during a broadcast of Monday Night Football, veteran sports commentator Howard Cosell exclaimed, "Look at that little monkey run!" about Washington Redskins receiver Alvin Garrett, an African American. Cosell resigned two months later, following intense public outcries.
