ESPN NFL Countdown broadcaster Randy Moss caused a bit of a stir on Sunday, by making a curious political analogy, while trying to praise the Hurricane Harvey relief campaign of Houston Texans player J.J. Watt.
On Sunday, the future Hall of Fame wide receiver attempted to praise Watt’s hurricane relief efforts by contrasting it with protests against, “racism.”
Moss said, “Over the last month, we’ve had a lot of losers in our country out here protesting racism, doing a lot of negative stuff. It puts a lot of bad shame on our country. But when you see the things that J.J. Watt is doing bringing winners together, bringing the community together, bringing the whole state together.”
From those comments, it sounds like Moss is referencing the Kaepernick-clones, and their anthem protests. After all, Kaepernick claimed the flag of representing oppression and racism, when he first explained his reasoning for protesting the anthem. Others must have come to that conclusion as well, or, at the very least been unclear as to Moss’ meaning, because soon after he said that, he tweeted this clarification:
Okay, perhaps Moss really meant the Charlottesville protesters when he said this, but it’s really strange if he did. First, the protests in Charlottesville weren’t anti-racist protests. They were protesting against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Secondly, Moss uses the reference “out here,” when talking about these protests against racism. Well, he says this as an NFL analyst, appearing on a Sunday NFL talk show. Why would he use a reference such as, “out here,” if by “here,” he meant Charlottesville? Wouldn’t “out here,” more likely imply the football field? Or, the NFL in general?
Athletes aren’t known for their clever turns of phrase, and perhaps Moss just mangled what, to him, was an obvious reference to Charlottesville. Or he meant precisely what many believe he meant, then he remembered he works for ESPN and decided to beat a quick retreat.
Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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