NFL Hall of Famer an 'emotional mess'
Black leader urges punishment for advising rookies to find scapegoats for their crimes
Published: 10 hours ago
By Paul Bremmer
“And just in case y’all not going to decide to do the right thing, if y’all got a crew, you got to have a fall guy in the crew.”
That was pro football Hall of Famer Cris Carter’s advice to an auditorium full of rookies at the 2014 NFL Rookie Symposium.
“Y’all not gonna all do the right stuff now, so I got to teach you how to get around all this stuff, too,” Carter continued. “If you gonna have a crew, one of them fools got to know he goin’ to jail.”
Encouraging impressionable young players to shift responsibility for their criminal actions to someone else deserves criticism, according to Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a talk radio host, civil rights leader and WND columnist.
“When I first saw the video, I was really shocked and surprised,” Peterson said. “I could hardly believe what I was seeing and hearing. I realized that Cris Carter is an emotional mess. Shame on Cris, an NFL Hall of Famer. He should know better, because these kids are young and they’re coming from single-parent homes. They don’t have fathers to guide them in the right way and teach them how to take responsibility for their own action.”
The Carter video was exposed just days ago and has gone viral.
Carter’s remarks were made in 2014, but the video drew attention after Chris Borland, a linebacker who retired after his 2014 rookie season, mentioned in an interview that a former player had advised his rookie class to get a “fall guy” to take the punishment for any crimes they may commit.
BroBible.com searched the NFL’s website and found the video. The league, which has removed the video from its site, called the comment “unfortunate and inappropriate.”
“The comment was not representative of the message of the symposium or any other league program,” the NFL said. “The league’s player engagement staff immediately expressed concern about the comment to Cris.”
Carter later apologized on Twitter.
“Seeing that video has made me realize how wrong I was. I was brought there to educate young people and instead I gave them very bad advice. Every person should take responsibility for his own actions. I’m sorry and I truly regret what I said that day,” he said.
Carter’s comment came during the same year he gave a passionate speech rebuking NFL running back Adrian Peterson, who was suspended in September 2014 for punishing his young son with a switch. Carter made that comment in his role as a studio analyst for ESPN.
“He’s sitting there, going off on [Adrian] Peterson for whupping his son,” the reverend said, “It was hypocrisy at its worst. It’s like Cris has no consciousness, he has no feelings about being wrong and giving out wrong advice at all.
“I think that Cris needs to be suspended for giving out that kind of advice for young rookies while at the same time calling for the punishment of other players who have done wrong. It’s the worst kind of hypocrisy that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Peterson said the incident is a good example of the message he tries to convey in his forthcoming book, “The Antidote.”
“We have to teach especially young black boys and girls because they have not had two parents in the home – we have to teach them not to be angry, not to blame someone else when you’ve done something wrong, not to try to run and hide, but to admit that you’re wrong, and then learn from it and move forward. That’s the only way to grow in life.”
Colin Flaherty, author of “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It,” thinks Carter’s remarks are part of a larger trend of people not taking responsibility for the crimes they commit.
“It seems like I’ve been hearing a lot of this exact kind of Cris Carter advice lately,” Flaherty said. “Just the other day at the University of Wisconsin, one of the professors or administrators said people should not be arrested for stealing from Wal-Mart because it’s [got insurance] and what’s the damn difference, so no people should be arrested at Wal-Mart.”
Peterson said it’s shameful that ESPN, Carter’s current employer, has not taken action, only issuing a statement that it disagrees with the remarks. Peterson also chided the NFL for allowing the video to sit on the site for so long.
“The only reason they’re taking them down now is that they were discovered,” he said. “They should not have allowed this to go any further than the day that Cris said it. He should have been punished then and corrected right in front of those players so they understand this is not the way you function in society if you want to be successful.”
The NFL Rookie Symposium is an annual event in which young players learn how to deal with their newfound wealth and fame and make good decisions.
“I know none of y’all never gonna drink late,” Carter jokingly told the rookies. “I know none of y’all ain’t never gonna use no drugs or nothing, all of y’all gonna go to Bible study. I realize that, but still get you a fall guy. If you gonna have a crew, make sure they understand can’t nothing happen to you. Your name can’t be in lights under no circumstances.”
Peterson said he would have told the players “to take one step at a time, to make sure they save their money, put it away.”
“Don’t run out and buy big fancy homes and cars and don’t get a crew to follow you. Avoid trouble as much as possible, be honest, and be fair to all people. That’s how you grow and mature and succeed in America.”
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/nfl-hall-of-famer-an-emotional-mess/#TziHRpoCMhdipLkO.99
