Got an email this morning claiming that Stanford head football coach Jim Harbaugh yelled “faggot” at an official during the Stanford-Notre Dame game on Saturday (which Stanford won). While you can’t hear the audio, it certainly looks like that’s what he’s yelling. Check out the video after the jump at about the 26-second mark.
We’re looking into this further (update below) …
Hat tip to Chris Finley.
Update: Harbaugh denies he said “faggot.”
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 PM
Zzzzzzzz….here we go again. I can tell you, not predict, but tell you how this will play out:
It’ll cause a stink in Palo Alto, possibly causing protests. Stanford’s PR people will get involved, Harbaugh will do a press conference in which he expresses sorrow “if I offended anyone” (aka the non-apology apology). Big group hug, everyone sings “Kumbaya” and on to the next faux controversy.
Sorry, this stuff is so predictable and boring any more, it has lost any power. It’s just a farce with the various actors playing out their parts: Outraged activists chanting and waving signs! Online people calling and e-mailing! Head of organization expressing sorrow at the remarks while reiterating his orgs commitment to diversity! Person forced to walk to the guillotine of public opinion (the podium at the hastily arranged press conference) and beg forgiveness! And….no attitudes are changed, just people being wary of saying anything. It’s as predictable as the Angels choking in the playoffs.
I lost respect for Josh McDaniels when he participated in the Denver version of this bullshit. His original “Too bad, what were mics doing where they don’t belong anyways?” was perfect.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 1:07 PM
I gotta agree with Jim, and especially in terms of McJosh. (I live in Colorado). Something said in the heat of the moment is different from a pattern of behavior; I don’t condone shouting “faggot,” certainly, but I don’t know that getting worked up every time this sort o’ thing happens has any value.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 PM
I agree it’s tedious to go through this time after time. And day-to-day on a short term basis it may not seem to make much difference. But long term it is worthwhile to call people out when they use a slur.
Twenty-Five years ago, do you think a single football coach at any level would have worried about being in trouble for using the word, ‘faggot’?
So how did we get from that point to today, where there actually are consequences for using the word? It may not seem like that big a deal to some. But it has changed people’s behavior. And that is a tremendous change and a move in the right direction.
Progress is being made because enough people over the years have stood up and said, “that’s not right” when someone uses a slur.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Mike, I can’t disagree; I guess I was more focused on the McJosh example, which seemed pretty silly to me.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 2:11 PM
I remember hearing about this the morning after this game, and even reading about it on a few websites. I honestly think if the media (and activist groups) were gonna make a big deal about this, we would have heard so by now…
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 2:36 PM
But it has changed people’s behavior. And that is a tremendous change and a move in the right direction
What direction is that? Having someone stand before some cameras and read out a prepared statement in a voice and with body language that says “This is bullshit, I hate having to be here”?
I’m sorry, I just feel this “outrage” is totally mis-directed. How much time and energy is spent on these farces when a protest to get EDNA repealed –something that has a REAL affect on GLBT people– gets a much smaller response? It’s easy outrage and it certainly doesn’t change attitudes one iota, it just makes people cautious about what they say. The worst is when people like Harbaugh are forced to go through “sensitivity training” or something like that, it reeks of thoughtcrimes.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Fuck! Shit! Goddammit! Faggots!
It’s Employee Non-Discrimination Act, of course, not EDNA.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 3:15 PM
I agree with Mike. To let an uttered slur go w/o consequences just reinforces the notion that bigotry against that particular group is ok. It’s not really a matter of whether the offender is sincerely sorry – it’s about showing to the world that what he/she did was wrong & should not be tolerated.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 PM
using it in the heat of battle is a lot different than Hawaii’s fat ugly coach using it at a public event, and i can’t tell from that clip what he said exactly, so i say just let him off w/ a warning this time, he’s outta there to Michigan, Notre Dame or the NFL anyways……..
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 4:26 PM
@ DruggyBear – I find the using of a slur due to the “heat of the moment” excuse to be quite lame. You don’t use a certain word unless YOU know that it connotes a certain meaning. If Harbaugh did indeed say “faggot,” he was doing so b/c he wanted to demean the ref in one of the worst ways he thought possible.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 PM
i suppose you are right, i just find it hard to get worked up about a Harbaugh/McDaniels-type incident the same way as a Larry Johnson/fugly Hawaii coach incident or far worse an ABC cancelling Adam Lambert in favor of Chris Brown incident: http://www.okmagazine.com/2009/11/gma-books-chris-brown-after-canceling-adam-lambert/
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 4:59 PM
So it would be OK to call someone a fu*king N*gg*r in the heat of the moment? Please…
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 5:27 PM
i didn’t say it was ok i just said it’s not as bad as it seems when it’s used in the heat of battle. i played o-line in high school and we used all kinds of names, slurs, whatever it took to psyche out our opponents and the coaches used them too to motivate us against them, granted the n-word itself was never used as far as i remember but taunts about fried chicken, watermelon etc were used. i think it’s a totally different when u take that sort of thing off the field of course, but on the field it’s a lot of “anything goes”, anyone who played can attest to that…..
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 5:44 PM
I agree with Brandon. If that ref was black and Harbaugh called him the “n” word in the heat of the moment his head would’ve been on a stick so its not ok to say faggot in the heat of the moment.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Druggybear, stop calling people ugly. There is no need for it.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 6:13 PM
uh, ok Mom. I’ve called far-better people much-worse things on here, but hey, it’s your blog
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 PM
Druggy Bear…
Dude you are in a delusional state if you think fried chicken and watermelon taunts uttered by a Division 1 coach on television would get a “”whatever” response from the NCAA, PAC-10 or any other governing body. And by the way, he didn’t say “Nancy boy” or “light on his toes,” he said faggot. So take your internalized self-loathing and make kissy-face with the jackass Harbaugh but don’t try to sell this for anything but what it was: a bigot unmasked.
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 11:12 PM
i am NOT self-loathing sheesh i didn’t say i approved of it IF HE EVEN SAID IT i just said i am more liable to cut guys a lil slack with what is said on the field of play cuz i said that and worse when i was playing, i’m not saying you guys are wrong to be pissed either but I simply don’t equate that or what McDaniels said w/ what the very attractive Hawaii coach or LJ said, but if you guys have a zero tolerance policy hey that’s your prerogative…..
on Dec 4th, 2009 at 6:52 PM
We have never appreciated comments demeaning the appearance of people and we won’t start now. Unless it’s Peyton Manning.
on Dec 4th, 2009 at 7:46 PM
EDNA who? Is that Harbaugh’s alter ego…Dame EDNA?
on Dec 5th, 2009 at 8:21 AM
By the way, we are trying to get ENDA PASSED. [It's DOMA that we need repealed.] If you want to do something, call Congressman George Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Education and ask why final mark up on ENDA was abruptly postponed 3 weeks ago and hasn’t been rescheduled?
The Committee’s direct line is 202-225-3725. (You can also call the toll free DC Capitol line at 866-220-0044 and ask for the Committee or Speaker Pelosi’s Office.)
on Dec 6th, 2009 at 12:23 PM
I think at the end it looks like he was saying “You’re F*%cking Us. You’re F%$cking Us.”