To be sure, as the great Washington Post political columnist David S. Broder wrote, after his retirement in 2001, Helms was “the last unabashed political white racist politician”. Terry founded the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which distributed a “Wanted” poster for Florida abortion doctor David Gunn at a rally the summer before Gunn was assassinated in 1993. He was shot three times in the back outside a Florida clinic. Trump did what Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, who opposed abortion before him, were afraid to do because of the extremist undercurrent of the event: He spoke live at the annual march.
Yet Dungy continued his speaking engagements, using his athletic celebrity and his religious beliefs as a deodorant for intolerance themes.
A few days ago, Dungy tweeted that he was rightly and severely condemned for it, ashamed to apologize and delete his words. It amplified to Dungy’s nearly 1 million followers a dangerous deception, a reactionary one, about how quickly schools should accommodate differences in student identities and the need to stop them. The tried-and-tested fabrication is ultimately aimed at eliminating the needs of LGBTQ children, even those of color who need the opportunity to explore their histories and have others learn from them. It was a slap in the face for Tampa Bay guard Karnacib, who the league has celebrated since revealing he is gay, becoming the first active NFL player to do so.
A source at NBC told me Monday that Dungy apologized to the “National Football Night” team, of which he is the face. In a memo to employees, the network reminded: “… NBC Sports does not support or condone the views expressed in the tweets, and we have made that clear to Tony. Our company has long proudly supported LGBTQ+ rights and strives to Ensuring that all of our employees are seen, recognized, recognized and respected.”
Whether the league took the same approach — or reacted as it did after Colin Kaepernick’s protests, when it ordered fines to any team that had a player on the field who didn’t stand for the national anthem — I don’t know. The league did not respond to my email seeking clarification of its position with the Dungy Association.
Dungey aired his regrets Saturday ahead of NBC’s playoff broadcast: “Last week I posted a tweet and I deleted it. I posted an apology, but not everyone saw it. So here I am Reposting my apology. As a Christian, I want to be a force for love for everyone. A force for healing and reconciliation — not hatred.”
On Wednesday, he tweeted out his initial apology.It read: “I saw a tweet [Tuesday] I responded to it the wrong way. As a Christian, I am expected to speak out of love and in a caring and helpful way. I failed to do this and I am deeply sorry. “
I’m not sure what you mean by “responding in the wrong way”. But that didn’t stop Dungey from embracing his moment in front of anti-abortionists at a podium frequented by white supremacists and zealots. From there he even dared to cite the recent story of Buffalo Bills player Dama Hamlin, who was recovering from a cardiac arrest during a game, as some sort of justification for abolishing a woman’s right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.
“People want to see lives saved,” Dungy told the Walk for Life march, referring to Hamlin. “These people aren’t necessarily religious; they come together to call out to God. Well, that should encourage us, because that’s why we’re here. Because every day in this country, innocent lives are threatened. The only The only difference is that they don’t belong to famous athletes and won’t be seen on national television.”
I know there are black head coaches in the NFL who want Dungy to use that energy and his gravitas to support their discrimination lawsuit against the league’s recruiting practices, and perhaps assist the next black Hall of Fame coach. But he didn’t join them in action beyond words, as he has been fighting abortion and LGBTQ people.
It is not my intention to criticize religious beliefs, although Dungy uses his views to pan-Afro-Christian religions and those whom his version of Christianity rejects. He is an evangelical Christian who is outspoken not only against abortion but also against same-sex marriage, which he opposed in Indiana while coaching the Colts, and against gay people in general, including those who may A man who worked hard as a professional athlete. Notoriously, he said he wouldn’t have Michael Sam (the NFL’s first openly gay player) in his locker room.
It is yet another reminder that sport can, has been, and often continues to be the enabler of the very opposite it celebrates: regress, not progress. Dungy is not the much-hyped vanguard of social change in sports, regardless of his historic accomplishments as the first black head coach to lead a team to a Super Bowl.
In fact, he plans to stay with the brand in March, speaking at an all-male conference called Men’s Advance 2023. The conference is led by evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Wommack, who two years ago argued that “gays are three times worse than smoking. We should put a sticker on their foreheads: ‘It could be bad for your health . ” “
Dungy should know that going through an experience like this could jeopardize his career.
