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We all fumble our words sometimes, but former Patriots quarterback Cam Newton’s recent comments were deliberate, and his apology was shallow.
On a podcast that was released Sunday, Newton made several misogynistic comments toward women, stating that, “A woman for me is handling your own but knowing how to cater to a man’s needs.”
Saying what “a woman” should be implies that this is how all women are to act, when in reality this isn’t how any woman should be inclined to act.
This language is primitive, and shows that traditional, oppressive gender roles are still embraced by some. The whole “husband is the breadwinner” and “wife is the homemaker” trope is enforced here.
What’s more is that in 2021, Newton signed a 1-year, $6 million contract with the Carolina Panthers, the first team he played for in the NFL.
With $6 million, why would someone need to be “catered” to? This adds more fuel to Newton’s implication that women are merely objects whose purpose is to satisfy men.
That could not be more wrong. As a woman myself, I can say with confidence that I will never exist for the purpose of pleasing a man. If you have $6 million in the bank from a 1-year contract, you have more than enough to cater to and satisfy yourself.
He made yet another reprehensible statement during the podcast, complaining about women who “don’t know how to be quiet.”
The only person who needs to be quiet here is Cam Newton. To say that women need to be quiet is to say women are less than men.
The glaring issue here is that this isn’t Newton’s first time he’s expressed his disdain toward women and doubted their capabilities.
During a press conference in 2017, Charlotte Observer reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked Newton about whether or not he enjoyed the physicality of routes during games. He responded with, “It’s funny to hear females talk about routes…it’s funny.”
No one in the room laughed — as they shouldn’t. What’s so funny about a journalist doing their job, and what does their gender have to do with it? Nothing.
Newton issued an apology after his comment, but it was fruitless at best. He only recognized his wrongdoing when it was convenient for him, stating, “The fact that during this process I’ve already lost sponsors and countless fans, I realized that the joke is really on me.”
He turned his “joke” into a pity party all about him. How pathetic. Women don’t exist to cater to men or be quiet.
Five years later, we see that any apology he made regarding past degrading comments about women was insincere. He hasn’t changed.
To put it in football terms, Newton threw a Hail Mary of an apology in 2017, only to be intercepted less than five years later by more devaluing comments toward women.