Cam Newton Made A Sexist Joke & Nobody Is Laughing

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Ever make a joke in your BFF group message and it totally falls flat? You may have mulled over your attempt at humor for a few minutes or just sent your amusing text off-the-cuff, but either way, nobody is replying and/or nobody is laughing. Well, this story is much, much worse.

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton basically did that, but on a much larger scale. The NFL player was taking questions from members of the press at a conference, when reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked him a question about routes. To put it summarily for those who don’t know what a route is, it’s a football term for a strategic pattern of play.

“It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes, like, it’s funny,” Newton replied with amusement before continuing his answer.

What a knee-slapper.

Rodrigue wasn’t laughing. She tweeted about the incident later. “I don’t think it’s ‘funny’ to be a female and talk about routes,” she wrote. “I think it’s my job.”

https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/915682599326162945

She also mentioned that she caught up with Newton post-joke flop and said it was actually “worse,” though she didn’t choose to elaborate.

https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/915683363675090944

Let’s be clear about one thing: this joke could have been worse. He could have said any number of sexist things, but in the end, we’re not here to applaud men for not doing the worst thing possible. The bar should not be that low. Women should be able to work without fear of being demeaned, belittled, or disrespected. These comments represent an even bigger culture of sexism in sports and though they are not the impetus nor the most significant element of the problem, they are just a small example of the microaggressive behavior that plagues women in sports.

That said, there are plenty of men in the NFL, like Ben Roethlisberger, for example, who have done much worse things. Their presence in the game is troubling, much more so than Newton’s attempt at humor. This larger institutional problem is one that the NFL has avoided discussing, let alone changing, for years now. It’s incredibly discouraging.

For some, the problem was the use of the word “female,” which tends to have a negative connotation. For others, the issue was his questioning of Rodrigue’s sports knowledge. Either way, the whole thing was just a fail.

The Association For Women In Sports Media responded via Twitter, saying that they were “discouraged by Cam Newton’s disrespectful remarks and actions.”

Of course, many immediately came to Rodrigue’s defense. Some decided to roast Newton with their own jokes.

Others pointed out Rodrigue’s own hypocrisy in discussing inappropriate jokes.

Before telling a joke, especially one of this subject matter, here’s a rule: think. If it disrespects or demeans someone’s livelihood, it isn’t “funny.” At all.

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