A young man is only a few months away from fulfilling a dream of a lifetime, a chance to participate in the top levels of a professional sport.
And during one of the many interview processes, a representative from a possible team that may draft this player asks this question.
For Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple, that “question” totally caught him off guard. He recounted the question during an interview with Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia, and click the link below to hear the interview.
Seriously? This is the year 2016, and we’re asking questions like this as part of a hiring process for a football team?
Now to his credit, Eli Apple played off the question as something that would be asked in terms of provocation – in other words, gauging someone’s reaction when asked a question like that.
Yeah. No.
The Atlanta Falcons immediately responded to CSN Philly with an apology, and the NFL may be looking into the situation. But still…
This isn’t Louis Gossett Jr. asking recruits in An Officer and A Gentleman as to whether they’re from a state full of “steers and queers,” in an effort to weed out weak recruits. That was a movie and that was 30 years ago.
The Atlanta Falcons coaches should be asking if a player can understand an NFL playbook. If a player can run routes and catch footballs and play to the best of his abilities. Be a professional on and off the field.
He shouldn’t be asking questions that were highly offensive when kids asked them in the playground at recess.
And even asking that kind of a question to a potential employee of a team in the National Football League – in this case, Eli Apple – is considered a form of discrimination in and of itself.
I’ve seen it too many times in my life – people will automatically make presumptions about someone’s sexuality and what that entails. And it bothers me. Because those jokes and accusations treat the targeted person as if he or she isn’t on the same level as everyone else – the jokes treat a person as if they were homo inferiorus.
True story. A few years ago, I dated a girl – nice person, all that – but she had an issue with Derek Jeter. A big time issue. I could mention that I saw a Yankees game on television, and watched Derek Jeter hit a game-winning home run, and she would automatically respond, “Oh, Derek Jeter is gay. He goes down on men.” And that’s the cleaned-up version of what she said, the stuff she actually said is not safe for work or blog.
It was one of the reasons why I stopped seeing her.
Not because I’m a fan of Derek Jeter. It was more because of taunts like that – the suggestion that if you’re gay, you’re a deviant or a threat to straight people. And it wouldn’t matter if that person was Derek Jeter or Michael Sam or Eddie Scanlon.
As a society, we’ve moved past things like Jim Crow and apartheid. And we’re working to get past ethnic cleansing and eugenics.
And all it takes is one insensitive question by one clueless coach…
And, sadly, we’re back at square one, with no progress to show for it.
Chuck The Writer 
I’m not sure Eli Apple claiming the question was provocative and not what it plainly was – prejudice – is to his credit. He just didn’t want to piss off the cow off whose teat he wants suckle.
LikeLike