USA Today sports columnist Nancy Armour recently claimed that NFL star Tom Brady gets away with his mild support of President Trump because he is white.
Left-wing sports writers have been trying to cancel Brady since the day a Donald Trump campaign hat was seen in his locker five years ago. The six-time Super Bowl winner also noted several times that he is friends with Trump. Still, Brady was never highly motivated by politics, and unlike other NFL players, he has never made loud political proclamations a central point of his public persona.
But despite his lack of political pronouncements, in her Feb. 2 article on Brady, Armour flamed Brady, saying “how mighty white of him” it is that he has more or less avoids too much politics.
Armour’s main accusation is that Brady “avoids accountability” for having been friendly with Trump. And he avoids this so-called “accountability” only because he is white.
On Tuesday, Armour wrote:
Brady’s ability to enter and exit the debate at his choosing, to shield himself from accountability, is the height of white privilege. As this country grapples with the far reaches of systemic racism, look no further than Brady, for whom the expectations, and allowances granted, will always be different
The question is, “accountability” from whom? Why does Brady need to be “held accountable” for being friends with a duly elected U.S. president? And who is performing all this holding to account?
Many other athletes issue a constant stream of political invective. For instance, Le Bron James has advocated for the defunding of police, resulting in a jump in the murders of black people nationwide, not to mention his support of the coronavirus policies that have destroyed the jobs of millions of minorities. Who is holding LeBron James “accountable”?
Naturally, Armour and her ilk continue to point to Colin Kaepernick as proof that Brady gets away with his politics while Kaepernick is still on the outside of the NFL and looking in.
There is no end in sight to Colin Kaepernick’s blackballing, even though his protests to bring attention to police brutality of Black and brown people have proven to be an alarm we should not have ignored. WNBA players had one of their own owners turn on them because they had the audacity to say “Black Lives Matter” and amplify the stories of Black and brown women killed by police.
But Armour’s comparison fails. Kaepernick nearly daily continues to push his left-wing politics on social media and in media reports. Meanwhile, Brady had a hat in his locker five years ago but has since spent little time holding court on politics.
Ah, but the leftist writer has an answer to that: “Even Brady’s aversion to talking about politics or current events is itself a form of privilege.”
You see, as far as Armour is concerned, Brady should be attacked every day for owning a campaign hat five years ago, and the fact that he isn’t is “white privilege.”
Armour goes on with her disingenuous comparisons:
Like other white athletes, Brady is seen as an individual in a way minority athletes never are. Because Megan Rapinoe is openly gay, she is always going to be asked to weigh in on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community. Black and brown athletes are expected to have – and share – their opinions and experiences about racial injustice and discrimination.
Again, Megan Rapinoe is not forced to espouse her left-wing politics. She is only too happy to do it. She is loud and proud about her liberal ideals. Rapinoe feels that pushing politics is “part” of her game. No one is unfairly forcing her to do anything at all.
So, if Rapinoe — who is white — can find a ready soapbox with every left-wing sportswriter for her political views, why can’t Brady just talk about sports and avoid politics?
Armour wants it both ways. She wants left-wing athletes to be open about their politics. But she also wants Brady to be raked over the coals daily for the politics that he has little interest in discussing.
There is no “white privilege” here. In fact, there is a leftist privilege at work. Leftists want to be able to push their ideas without repercussion. They don’t want to be held to account for their hate for white people or their hatred for America. They want to be allowed to say or not say anything they want. Yet, Tom Brady, who has no agenda to push at all, is supposed to be forced to “accountability.”
In the end, Nancy Armour is not interested in any notions of “accountability.” All she really wants is to destroy Tom Brady’s career because she doesn’t like Donald Trump.
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