Larry Johnson
Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson has used three anti-gay slurs in the past 24 hours after he was confronted about using his Twitter account to rip his head coach Todd Haley.
When reporters entered the Chiefs locker room on Monday, Johnson said he was not answering any questions until Thursday. He then uttered this under his breath, according to radio station KCSP and Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star:
“Get your faggot asses out of here.”
Last night, when Johnson got into a Twitter spat with a fan, he called the fan a “fag,” according to Yahoo Sports, which monitored the exchange:
“think bout a clever diss then that wit ur fag pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u.”
“Christopher street boy” is an obvious reference to gays for the Christopher Street gay pride parade in New York. The fan made mention of Johnson pleading guilty after allegedly spitting in the face of a female bar patron.
Johnson went off on Twitter (his account, once public, is now private) after the Chiefs (1-6) lost to San Diego, 37-7. He wrote that his father had more experience than first-year Chiefs head coach Todd Haley:
“My father played for the coach from “rememeber the titans”. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn”
Johnson has had numerous run-ins with the law:
Johnson has had four arrests for various degrees of battery since being drafted by the Chiefs in 2003. One charge was pled down, with Johnson serving time in a domestic violence diversion program. A second charge was dropped, while two other charges – including the aforementioned spitting incident – were reduced to disturbing the peace. Johnson received probation for a guilty plea in the latter two charges.
“Fag,” “Faggot” and “Christopher street boy.” The NFL (if not the Chiefs) must fine and suspend Larry Johnson or else it condones the use of such language by its players.
Update 2: The Chiefs suspended Johnson for two weeks.
Update 1: NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Pro Football Talk that the league is investigating what Johnson said. “We are in the process of getting the facts,” he said.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 3:55 PM
He’s upset because he sucks this year. Hasn’t averaged over 3.6 yards per carry in any of his games. Meanwhile, Jamaal Charles has averaged 6 yards per carry in three of his six games. LJ was just a couple years ago an elite back in the league. But issues at QB, the offensive line, and with his age, are virtually insurmountable for him.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 7:31 PM
As a Chiefs fan. I’m done with this guy. He had a couple of good seasons. But, he has been a malcontent since he got into the league. Not to mention his violence against women.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 7:36 PM
What do you expect from an uneducated low life, overpaid pig skin chaser. I guess it is ok for us “fags” to call him a “nigger” now?
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 7:38 PM
Did you look at his profile pic? he looks like an idiot. I don’t want the son of bitch to apologize either. It won’t be genuine and I as a “fag” won’t accept it. You said it, fool, and now you can’t take it back.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 8:07 PM
He’s been a general embarrassment as an alumnus of our university since he joined the NFL. “Christopher Street boy”? Where the h@ll did that come from? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a straight guy use that, or a gay guy for that matter. What does he know about Christopher Street? He’s never lived in or around NYC. And the violence against women, the use of fag, the angry young man routine. I used to think it was a case of ego and ‘roids, but now… I wonder if closet case would be appropriate?
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 8:34 PM
For years now we have heard how having a Gay teammate would ‘ruin’ team Chemistry.
It seems obvious that the real threat to a team’s Chemistry comes from Azzholes like Larry Johnson.
Let’s hope that LJ is just an azzhole and not gay as he would definitely reinforce old stereotypes.
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 9:11 PM
I wouldn’t suck Larry Johnson’s lousy dick if I was suffocating and there was oxygen in his balls. (Thank you, John Waters!)
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 11:24 PM
As much as I hate what he had to say, I disagree that he should be punished. He was in his own home, on his own page, and I think he has the right to voice his opinion. Imagine if your employer found out you were on manhunt or craigslist or some porn site at home on your home computer, and they tried to discipline you because they had a policy against porn? I know, he has a morals clause in his contract but I find all these players that beat their wives and have 6 kids with random women much more offensive. When was the last time a player was disciplined because he got some random women pregnant that wasn’t his wife?
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 11:34 PM
This isn’t a privacy issue. He posted to Twitter. If you post anything online, it’s NOT private. And it’s not a free speech issue. He’s not voicing an opinion when he tells someone to “get your faggot asses out of here” or his Twitter insults. If he’s going to make anti-gay slurs, he has to be held accountable just as if he made racial remarks.
Even the post about his coach is not acceptable — the team, as his employer, has a right to discipline him for that post.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 12:20 AM
This guy has had enough troubles with the law to prove he’s a low-life piece of S)&t. Most of the time gay slurs any more don’t really mean anything against the gay community and I could give a rat’s ass. This guy really means it. Dude would be living in a trailer if it weren’t for the fact he can run fast. and JT Chiguy, the NFL fines and disciplines all the time about what they say. They are VERY sensitive about their image.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 1:31 AM
Umm…who cares? Larry Johnson is a has been. I’m not gettin all heated over his gay slurs. Moving along…
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 2:43 AM
Read the first amendment. You don’t have to like what he said but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the right to say it. I didn’t say that the NFL hasn’t disciplined players before for things like this, I just don’t think they should. I don’t think any NFL player has ever fought this issue when it has come up before because it wasn’t worth their time or the little money they were fined, but if they did, I bet they would win. He has the right to voice his opinion as long as he isn’t committing slander or perjury and I don’t think he did. I also think the NFL should worry more about the image they have on ignoring domestic violence and criminal behavior and less about uneducated players making ignorant statements.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:56 AM
I am furious…. that I actually paid good money to go see that horrible Raiders-Jets game this weekend! but oh about LJ, yeah, he sucks, his career is just about done, he’s self-destructing and will probably be dead in 5 years, so being a homophobe is hardly his biggest problem….
that being said, the most effective punishment would be to fine him big, the less $ he has to go to his baby mommas the more likely he’ll be in jail soon for being a deadbeat dad, let’s get that demise a rolling!
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 8:57 AM
We agree with you Jim. Suspension is warranted if that was his language.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 9:22 AM
Pioli will cut him.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 9:57 AM
The funny thing is that gays try to equate their so-called civil rights with those of blacks, but blacks are some of the biggest homophobes.
Remember kids, it was just the Mormons out in California that passed Prop 8, it was also those of the race of your beloved President.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 10:45 AM
Hmm some real telling comments in this room from some people. And some people wonder why there is such a split between white gays and black gays? There is no solidarity between the two in the gay community as a whole. Get a clue please. Start cleaning up shit in your own yard before always looking to pull the trigger on someone else.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 12:25 PM
I agree with JT–freedom of speech is a core American value. Toughen your hides men. He didn’t advocate taking away the rights of gays or commiting violence against them. The comments were just juvenile name-calling, best ignored rather than calling more attention to them and turning off potential allies by demanding some sort of action in the cause of “political correctness.”
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 12:42 PM
I am so tired of this “Freedom of Speech” nonsense. Everyone has the freedom to say what they want (though there are rare exceptions). But private entities have the right to react however they want! What you say has consequences. And if the NFL wants to suspend him or fine him, they should! The First Amendment does not protect Johnson from punishment by his employer, and any claim that it does shows a lack of comprehension of the United States Constitution.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Larry Johnson has the 1st Amendment right to say anything he wants, and if he wants to scream “faggot” from a public street corner, more power to him.
But when he does it as an employee and in the facilities of his employer, then his employer has a right to punish him for conduct unbecoming the organization.
All of you claiming “free speech,” please do this: Stand up at your work place now and make some racial slurs. Then try and argue 1st Amendment when you suffer the consequences.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 2:07 PM
nicely said, Jim and Cyd. I mean it’s not like we’re trying to get him sent him to Gitmo, we’re just trying to get his employer to punish him professionally, after all LJ is a public representative of the Chiefs and they have the right and responsibility to do just that.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 2:19 PM
The best news: it is becoming more and more socially unacceptable for people to make disparaging remarks about homosexuals or to degrade someone (gay or not) by insinuating they are homosexual.
This shift in societal thinking is as important as psychiatry removing homosexuality from its lists of illnesses in 1972, and wouldn’t be possible without it.
By the end of the century, backwards thinking about homosexuality will be a thing of the past, and future generations will think, “Can you believe they didn’t let women vote and thought homosexuality was considered abnormal?”
Someday, a man may be considered half a man if he doesn’t admit to having sexual relations with other men, and sexuality won’t be so polarized into gay or straight!
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 3:13 PM
You’re right that the First Amendment may not prevent an employer from disciplining an employee for conduct that interferes with the employer’s enterprise. But I don’t relate to the knee-jerk whinging that predictably arises when someone uses the word “fag.” I guess I wasn’t born with the victim-complex gene.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:07 PM
PennState – nice post, I agree with your points. I’ve been on to LJ’s scent (for lack of a better metaphor) for a little while, now. It seems like he’s totally unaware that his (sometimes) appearance and behavior are adding up to “closet case” – and that there are people who can pick up on these “vibes”. His lack of self-awareness (and apparently – self-control) is unfortunate, given his high profile.
(Or maybe he does have some awareness of the signals he is sending out – and just doesn’t care, for whatever reason… )
And actually, LJ keeps, or has kept, a Manhattan apartment (he was shown camped out in it on “Hard Knocks” a couple of years ago – during his extended holdout). He has a close association with the rapper Jay-Z and Rockafella Entertainment, which (partially – at least) explains his part-time NYC residency.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:33 PM
heartsocks are you dan savage? that crap that because some blacks are homophobic does not mean that the proposition in California was defeated because of that is absurd. Black homopobia was not the primary reason Prop 8 lost white and hispanic homophobia defeated it without our help. as far as the mormon church if it can be proven that they were politically involved in this they should lose their tax free exemption
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:58 PM
robert: 70+% of black voted against the gay measure in California during the 2004 general election.
Black voted for Obama and against gays.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Make that 2008 general election.
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 8:57 PM
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on Oct 28th, 2009 at 3:22 AM
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on Oct 28th, 2009 at 8:02 AM
Maybe NFL owners need to “character” into account before they hire these overpaid pieces of shit!
on Oct 31st, 2009 at 1:04 PM
LJ needs to grow up. His behavior and comments were inappropriate, but some of his critics are worse. He’ll pay a price for his error, what price will his critics pay for their excessive comments? Forgiveness makes us all better.
on Nov 5th, 2009 at 10:52 PM
who cares…sticks and stones…