U of Rhode Island Prof: Tom Brady Is Popular Because of 'White Supremacy'

Professor Kyle Kusz at the University of Rhode Island argues in a recent book that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady owes his popularity, at least in part, to a recent wave of “white supremacy” in America.

According to a report by Campus Reform, Professor Kyle Kusz of the University of Rhode Island recently examined the relationship between Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and “white supremacy.” In Kusz’s new book, which is entitled The Palgrave Handbook of Masculinity and Sport, Kusz makes the case that Tom Brady is popular with Americans because he is a white male.

In one chapter, which is entitled, “Making American White Men Great Again: Tom Brady, Donald Trump, and the Allure of White Male Omnipotence in Post-Obama America,” Kusz makes the case that Tom Brady is popular with Americans because he represents a “fantasy of white male omnipotence.”

Brady embodies a living fantasy of white male omnipotence that serves symbolically as an imagined solution to white male anxiety for those who feel that the United States is in the midst of a culture war against white men and traditional American culture and values. In each of these ways, cultural (and self-) representations of Brady’s white masculinity showcase the new preferred representational logics used to render white masculinity visible within this latest wave of backlash politics that extends from the Trump White House through popular culture to the online spaces that brought the alt-right life.

In a short interview with Campus Reform, Kusz said that he was inspired to research Tom Brady after viewing a 2015 Under Armour commercial featuring the legendary quarterback. Kusz argues that the commercial was akin to Nazi propaganda due to its red and black color scheme and military references.

“I decided to research Trump and Brady’s public performances of their white masculinities and how they connect with broader debates about race and gender politics after a student in one of my classes brought the UnderArmour commercial to my attention and it piqued my interest,” the professor said a short comment.