My late maternal grandmother always said, "if you have nothing good to say, it's better to just say nothing." This is so appropriate for Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett, who just said he was "just having fun" when he filmed an offensive YouTube video about "Black Olympics." He also reportedly said that he doesn't expect the episode to warrant discipline from the Cowboys. I first learned about this offensive video when Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock let loose on athlete and his brother, Michael, who is a rookie for the Seattle Seahawks. The two men competed eating fried chicken and watermelon and drinking Kool-Aid.
Bennett told the Michael Irvin radio show on Monday that he didn't intend to offend others, but doesn't think the video was racially insensitive. "I don't really think it's offensive," Bennett told Irvin. "It depends on your sense of humor and how you look at things. We were just having fun and it was very funny for me and my brothers, when I look at it I just can't stop laughing. If someone takes offense, I apologize. That wasn't my intention. It was just us having fun."What you do in the privacy of your own home is your prerogative, but when it is put on YouTube, for example, then it becomes a real problem. The video was offensive and in poor taste. How can we ever expect to be taken seriously as a people when we go around perpetuating the same negative stereotypes that upset us to no end when a white person utters those same offensive words or caricatures us in that manner? Come on. Surely we can do better than this.
Bennett told Irvin he would not have a problem with a white person acting out something like the "Black Olympics." There's white comedians that do stuff like that all the time," he said. "I think it's funny to attack stereotypes. It's funny how people just put people in a certain light and say that's what all the people do of a certain race or particular person, so it's fun to attack those stereotypes." Source: USA Today
Martellus Bennett isn't the only one who should draw anger, his brother is just as complicit in this as he is. For the record, Martellus Bennett is no stranger to a YouTube controversy. The Cowboys already fined Bennett once for releasing a profanity-filled rap video on YouTube, but the fine was later reduced. It's amazing that the Cowboys could come out swinging against him with the profanity-laced video, but remain silent on the stereotypical and offensive video.
