Cam Newton Issue: Excuse for Racism in Media?

By ANTHONY ZURITA

Every year in the NFL there is a different story involving individual players that resonates throughout the entire season. In past years, it’s been domestic violence issues, officiating, and this year, it was the season of celebrations, which may not be as cheerful as it sounds.

A main talking point for this season was the use of excessive celebrations, whether after a touchdown, first down, or any big play throughout the game. However, some players can be subjected to more public scrutiny based on their race.

Although many teams celebrate after scoring plays, the Carolina Panthers seemed to attract the most attention with moves by African American quarterback Cam Newton in particular. Newton has been criticized for his celebrations after big plays with some calling them disrespectful, while others are saying that he is simply having fun.

Mohamed Ombali of New Milford, a student and NFL fan, said that it does make him think that there could be something up.

“I don’t necessarily want to pin it on race, but seeing how white players celebrate just like Cam and not have anything bad said about them does make me wonder, as an African American I hope that’s not the case,” Ombali said.

Excessive celebrations are a separate issue however, as there is potentially a bigger one at hand.

Newton was by no means the only player to put a little thought into his endzone celebration; as many players around the league had celebrations that were a little more than spiking the ball or giving your teammates a high five.

Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce, who is Caucasian, had his fair share of dances in the endzone, which mainly included silly dances that were trending at the time such as “hitting the quan.” There was even an instance where Kelce started celebrating roughly 10 yards before he was even in the endzone, where he swung his arm in circles while running which served as him winding up to punch the football as soon as he scored.

There, Kelce was essentially celebrating a touchdown that hadn’t been scored yet, with some flair. The general public had a good laugh, and Kelce was not scrutinized one bit.

This raised a question, why is Cam being criticized for celebrating after he scores when you had a player who prematurely celebrated while running down the sideline?

Sports fans suggested that it could potentially be about race. ESPN’S Robert Flores was on air discussing Kelce’s dance, “Wondering why there’s no letters to the editor, or why First Take‘s not doing ‘Should Travis Kelce be dancing in the endzone?’ They didn’t. I wonder why they’re not doing that… oh because he’s not black.”

The “letters to the editor” reference Flores made was addressing a woman in Tennessee who wrote a letter saying that what Cam Newton was doing was a bad example for kids.

This opened the door to serious thoughts on whether it was indeed a race issue. White players were doing similar dances and celebrations, and there characters were never put in question like Newton’s was all season.

Racial Connotations

Many African-Americans did see this as a potential racial issue, and even though the league is 68.7  percent black,  according to the American Enterprise Institute, a research institute, there still seems to be an issue with acceptance.

Tyler Ryan, a Ramapo College student who is Caucasian, hopes that race is not the basis of this treatment,

“I never really thought about it as racism, because I would hope that we’ve moved far enough as a society to leave that behind, regardless I think black or white players should be allowed to celebrate how they want without scrutiny,” Ryan said.

Whether or not it is a race issue, players should be held to equal standards regarding criticism where one player can be criticized for doing something that other players do care free, observers say.