A 2008 Lynching
A few weeks ago a sports anchor on the Golf Channel, talking about the PGA Tour’s golfers being for the most part far back of Tiger Woods on the talent and win scoreboard, said that young players on the tour should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." Beyond the incorrect verb, it was stupid repartee. The anchor is a woman named Kelli Tilgham. I’ve seen her a couple of times and have not been impressed with her skills at her job.
All she needed to do to correct the problem was come back from a commercial break and say that the lynching thing was a stupid thing to say. “What I should have said is that Tiger is so good, that the only way the rest of the players are going to win more than every now and again is to mug him in an alley, a back alley or on a deserted street.”
She didn’t do that and didn’t apologize until some time later. The Golf Channel expressed regret.
Of course, Al Sharpton weighed in and demanded that she be fired (Woods’ spokesman had already said that Tiger was a friend of hers and that he didn’t think she had any “ill-intent… the matter was closed”).
From a CNN.com piece:
“But Sharpton says it is the word -- not the person or their history -- that matters. In a Wednesday interview, he compared Tilghman's statement to calling for a woman to be raped or for a Jewish-American to be sent to a gas chamber.
“‘Lynching is not murder in general. It is not assault in general. It is a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for,’ the reverend said. ‘What she said is racist. Whether she's a racist -- whether she runs around at night making racist statements -- is immaterial.’
“Sharpton said he wants Tilghman fired, period. And if the Golf Channel doesn't comply, the network can expect to see Sharpton and his National Action Network supporters picketing its Orlando, Florida, headquarters.”
“Tilghman's comment may have been a mistake, Sharpton said, but he feels it was evident of a deep-seated and well-cloaked racism.”
The Reverand Sharpton you might note didn’t draw a similar conclusion after his fellow Reverend’s “hymie-town” faux paux.
"I don't know why that would pop into her mind, but it popped out of her mouth, and she should be held accountable," the reverend said.
So, the Golf Channel announced that Tilgham was suspended for two weeks. "’There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this,’ the network said in a statement. ‘While we believe that Kelly's choice of words were inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate.’"
Then to continue the comedy, Golfweek, one of the two major golf magazines put a picture of a noose on it’s cover and did an article about the controversy. The Commissioner of the PGA, Tim Finchem, weighed in:
"Clearly, what Kelly said was inappropriate and unfortunate and she obviously regrets her choice of words. But we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion."
Put differently, “Damn, this mess was covered over, they took the wind out of Sharpton’s sails with the suspension, the damn magazine decides that the whole thing is newsworthy and stirs things up again.”
Oh, the PGA has a decade or so long contract for televising golf on the Golf Channel. It has no similar arrangement with Golfweek.
Next, Golfweek fires the editor responsible for the cover: "We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country," Turnstile Publishing Co. president William J. Kupper Jr. said. "We were trying to convey the controversial issue with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic."
Put differently, “Shit, Finchem’s after us, Sharpton isn’t far behind, we’ve off’d the guy that we chose as the scapegoat. Leave us alone, please?”
Finchem on the firing? He did not intend his comments as a “call to action.”
Stupid comment, serial stupid responses. It amazes me that the Rev. Sharpton has so much power over Media and Corporate America.
8 comments:
Nice snapshot in the sidebar. In keeping with my theme of the week, is that a white beard I spy?
I'm not sure. Depends on when this golf trip was, I'm not sure whether it was Fall of '06 or '05, and then just when the multi-colored, neatly trimmed hair was shaved. The original picture is on my work computer and my eyes aren't good enough to tell from the small reprint, though I think you are right, other than being mistaken about the one color.
I had a beard for years and years, in college ala ZZ Top, then more in the line of what I recall Dennis Miller had for awhile, finally a very closely trimmed beard. Then, the multi-color started turning mostly monochromatic and it's gone except Saturday and Sunday.
Thus, the mortality comments at your place. I know of what I speak.
In line with the week's theme, I always accuse Gladys of removing hair from the crown of my head when she shows the obligatory mirror shot of the back of my head. She smiles and says "look good."
I just blew it up, though a bit pixilated, yep, that's a beard. I saw a speckle or two of dark hair. Must have been taken in '05. Rick, when you read this, you have a better memory than I do, when did I shave it?
Al Sharpton will be taken care of by Tiger Woods. Tiger said from the beginning the comments made by the Radio announcer was not important, and he has known her as a friend for 12 years.
Too many media companies cave to Al Sharpton. Sharpton is the racist and he knows it, I know it, and any normal person in America knows it.
Go home Al and pay your taxes.
It's tough to be a public personality who is under the gun to "talk". Every radio and TV host has to open their mouth just about as fast as their brain can operate. Sometimes strange things come out, like Kelly Tilghman's comment about lynching. Oops!
I think we need to give these people a little more slack, especially if they have no history of similar goofs and no obvious reason for saying what they said the way they said it.
Kelly Tilghman has a long way to go before she's in Al Sharpton's league. He's a bottom-dweller of the first degree, and his history speaks for itself (Tawana Brawley, the Duke lacrosse players, etc.). Whatever the facts, Sharpton is willing to talk total racist crap. Why he even gets publicity is a mystery to me, since he's a proven charlatan.
Kelly should have said "Oops" promptly and clearly, and she apparently failed to do this. But that's all she should have had to do. Only those who have not committed a serious faux pas in front of any audience have cause to hammer on her. That leaves almost none of us. Amen.
I don't remember the year, but it was right after everyone started commenting on the "homeless looking lawyer guy".
A comment on topic this time:
As one who has made his share of accidental gaffes of this nature, all I can tell you is that I bet what's her face never makes the same mistake again.
While in college, my friends and I got into the unfortunate habit of sporting a FoghornLeghorn style voice and telling each other "Boy, you just can't do that." Or "Don't be stupid, boy!"
So when I was having a heated debate with a friend about whether or not another friend of ours deserved to be thrown out of school (he was having emotional issues), I said to him something like "Hold on a minute boy." It brought the conversation to a dead halt. See, Tank, with whom I was conversing, is black.
"Boy?!" he asked me. "Did you just call me BOY?!?!"
And that's when I realized how HE heard it. Regardless of what I might mean by any statement, all that really matters is how the receiver hears it.
Rick, I prefer to call it my Bill Bob Thornton look.
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