Washington Commanders executive Rael Entine, the club’s vice president of content, was suspended after making unfavorable comments about the team’s black players and hip-hop music.
“Big lump [of the Commanders roster] Entine is “very low-income, African-American, and comes from an inherently homophobic community,” the report said. O’Keefe told Media.
He wasn’t done there.
“I love hip hop. Hip hop is very homophobic.” He added:“This is a cultural issue and I hope it will be fixed.”
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Commanders quickly suspended Enteen after his comments were made public.
The words used in the video are Commander Organization” NBC Sports Coverage“The employee has been suspended pending the completion of our internal investigation and will refrain from further comment at this time,” the team said in a statement.
The Commanders franchise has had a tense relationship with some racial minority groups, particularly many Native Americans, who for years fought to change the franchise’s “Redskins” nickname. It wasn’t until the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 that it finally led to a nickname and team ownership change.
Last year, Commanders player Kendall Fuller supported the vehemently anti-LGBTQ group through My Cause My Cleats on Commanders Pride Day.
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Fuller left the Commanders and signed with the Miami Dolphins.
Washington was also the first NFL team to host an official LGBTQ Pride Night during a game. Other teams, including the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants, have made significant outreach to the LGBTQ community, but Washington holds a special place in the NFL’s history of outreach to LGBTQ fans.
The club hired Rivera’s openly gay son as a front-office staffer during his tenure as head coach. The team highlighted Christopher Rivera’s story.
I don’t know the details of the makeup of the Commanders’ locker room or the black men who inhabit it, but as I’ve written about before, my experience with black men in the Los Angeles-area football officiating community has been largely welcoming, even though nearly everyone knows I’m gay and married to my husband.
The NFL, under the tenures of both commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell, has worked to make the LGBTQ community feel comfortable within the league, which has resulted in more people coming out within front offices and across teams across the league.
Additionally, at least 16 current and former players have come out publicly in the past 50 years.
That’s a powerful message.
What happens in this episode with the Commanders? For an undetermined period of time, after which we return to the rigors of the NFL season.
Ultimately, if a gay player came out in an NFL locker room, the players would handle it. They have to. Most of them are at risk of being cut from the team with one big mistake, and they all know that getting along with and accepting their teammates is a big step toward winning the Super Bowl.
Source: Outsports – www.outsports.com
