49ers deny involvement in It Gets better video (Now this is a MESS)

[DigitalFudge]

Shit just got whole lot more real

A series of anti-gay remarks made by San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver cast the Super Bowl-bound team in a negative light just days ahead of the NFL championship game.

Though Culliver has since apologized for the controversial statements, the backlash seems unlikely to dissipate now that a new wrinkle has emerged. The 49ers' linebacker Ahmad Brooks and nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, both of whom participated in the team's widely-praised "It Gets Better" video last summer, have denied ever producing the clip.

The players told USA Today Sports that they didn't realize the video's aim was to specifically combat bullying experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens.

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay," Brooks told the publication. "But I didn't make any video." Later, after he was reportedly shown the video on an iPhone, the player clarified, "Oh, that. It was an anti-bullying video, not a gay [rights] video."

Even more curiously, Sopoaga also denied taking part in the clip, even as a teammate reportedly tried to jog his memory. "I never went," he declared. "And now someone is using my name."

LGBT rights activists have yet to respond to Brooks and Sopoaga's claims. But the firestorm over Culliver's statements (he told Artie Lange that he "don't do the gay guys, man" and that an openly gay player would not be welcome on the 49ers) continues to rage, even though team officials have released a statement saying they "proudly support the LGBT community."

Interestingly, Culliver's comments initially came on the heels of news that former 49ers offensive tackle Kwame Harris was in court on assault charges from a former boyfriend. Though Harris last played for the 49ers in 2007, many former teammates quickly came to his defense in the media.


A petition has since been launched on change.org asking the NFL to send Culliver to spend a day with the New York Gay Football League.

"This will give him an opportunity to see that openly gay players perform just as well as heterosexual players," the petition's organizer, Christian Fuscarino, writes. "It will also allow him to ask questions and speak with members of the team."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...ref=gay-voices





Oh and in the other thread look what I said

It's funny you say "Culliver" is not a representative of the entire team therefore implying that others don't share his phobia.



However using similar logic they didn't even have a fraction of the team's players in that it gets better video therefore is it safe to say the rest of the team also doesn't share their progressiveness?

Interesting.


So very interesting.






Oh and

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay"

[-Xibalba-]

Football is the worst sport this country has ever come to idolize. Overly-masculine. Homophobic. Players are repeatedly injured. A lot of fans are absolutely insane and spew homophobic remarks themselves while at the stadium.

I wish this sport would go away.

[DigitalFudge]

Ya'll know good and damn well that 49ners publicist is like:

[loveguys72]

The 49er's PR dept is probably going completely apeshit right now. I can hear them now: "We pay these jokers big money to throw, catch, and run. Why do they have to speak?"

In any case, I've never understood why we pay grown men huge amounts of money to play children's games. If professional sports disappeared today, I would neither notice nor mourn the abscence.

[DigitalFudge]

The 49er's PR dept is probably going completely apeshit right now. I can hear them now: "We pay these jokers big money to throw, catch, and run. Why do they have to speak?"

In any case, I've never understood why we pay grown men huge amounts of money to play children's games. If professional sports disappeared today, I would neither notice nor mourn the abscence.

Visa better swoop in and get this jokers together because clearly their superiors are not.

[PreTTy PeTe]

I love being Canadian.....because if You Can Play........you can play

[Stoowii]

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay"

[Rolyo85]

I like how most of this topic is just gifs...

[DigitalFudge]

I like how most of this topic is just gifs...

You have words for this mess?

[MattClaimer]

And what city is it that these morons purport to represent???? Amazing. Just amazing.

I was rooting for the 49ers - no more. I hope the Ravens smear them across the field now.

[DigitalFudge]

^^^


Yes.... The backlash......

[chrisrobin]

.

[freefall]

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay"

[penayforay]

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay"

are people upset with the implication that want implies choice or the false idea that "you can be be gay anywhere America with zero repercussions"?

[Ninja108]

PR nightmare take two.

[Adrock-JD]

Some Ravens player is now saying they would welcome a gay player.

Okay, now I'm interested in who wins the Super Bowl for once.

Go Ravens!

[TheSpectatingLoner]

Lets go Ravens?

LOL. Nah, not letting this influence my decision.

[Ninja108]

Let's face it this...homophobia is just one of the reasons I don't like many players in the NFL. Their attitudes towards women is another.

[refujiunderground]

so we have the raven which is the pro gay rights team and the 49ers which is an anti gay team playing a few months from the supreme court arguing about gay marriage being legal or not. *shrugs*

[MoufOfKhaos]

I wanted the Ravens to win anyway because the Failcons had to choke once again and let the 49ers in the game.

Now, moreso.

[FanofFiction]

Fuck the 49ers. I never liked that team anyway.

[JWaggy]

See...

The PR people were all like, "We did good by having those apologies and statements ready for Culliver. We got this contained!"

And then these doofuses come in and are all like...



And now PR people are all...



What will they be able to whip up as a response to this?

[DigitalFudge]

^^^^


You bring up a good point that I forgot to add.


For those who were not aware the PR team literally came out 45 minutes after that interview went online. The statement about gheys was made on Wednesday, and the three apologizes were released on Wednesday.


I feel like if they were going to say something they already would have.


Fuck it, at this point. Their audience knows what's up at this point.

[kayman23]

But, but, but, it's the home of milk and honey for LGBTs like NYC, San Francisco? See that is why I cannot with neither because too much fakery is going on and too little realness from people in both cities on "accepting" LGBTs.



Back to my regular scheduled life in Atlanta already in progress

[frankfrank]

I still have to "root for" the 49ers.

I've always considered the Ravens to be an illegitimate team, with Art Modell moving them from Cleveland under rather questionable circumstances.

[Hard-up1]

"This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay"

are people upset with the implication that want implies choice or the false idea that "you can be be gay anywhere America with zero repercussions"?

No. It's just sloppy language (no offense, football industry.) The intent was clearly "gays can be out without being shunned."

[palbert]

I like how most of this topic is just gifs...

The overpaid homophobes are the real GIFS.

[hungprep]

You have words for this mess?

Not I so much, but blogger Dave Zirin of The Nation magazine perhaps can throw a little light – as opposed to shade – on this (How many threads long is it now…?) story…

When Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo said he hoped this year’s Super Bowl would be a platform to discuss LGBT rights, I don’t think this is exactly what he had in mind.

First on media day, San Francisco 49er Chris Culliver was asked by Howard Stern acolyte and living symbol of American declinism Artie Lange if he’d ever accept a gay teammate. Culliver said, “No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah…can’t be…in the locker room, man. Nah.” In rapid-response fashion, Culliver then issued the finest, most heartfelt apology a 49er public relations intern ever had to write.

Then two 49ers, Ahmad Brooks and Isaac Sopoaga, denied ever appearing in the team’s much praised anti-LGBT bullying “It Gets Better” Public Service Announcement, despite video evidence to the contrary. Sopoaga said, “I never went, and now someone is using my name.”

This pushed “It Gets Better” founder Dan Savage to actually remove the video from its website. After tweeting that the 49er PSA was being taken down, Savage used three hashtags: #homophobia #NFL #horseshit.

As if this weren’t enough vitriol for one week, on Sunday the league will be holding their twenty-fourth annual Super Bowl Gospel Celebration, and for reasons they have refused to comment upon, it is stacked with an all-star cast of anti-gay bloviators. We are talking about religious singers and preachers who have said things that would make Rick Santorum blush.

This is the point where I’m sure people might ask why any of this matters. Well, it matters for a multitude of reasons…

‘Is It Getting Better? Homophobia Rocks Super Bowl’ – by Dave Zirin, ‘EdgeofSports’ blog, The Nation, February 1, 2013

And… Oh, yeah… Go Ravens!