Rice will lose her Jag
Jaguar wasted no time in dropping Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice as a spokeswoman for the car maker after she tweeted “Suck on that faggots!” in response to the results of a rugby match.
It’s not known whether the Jaguar agreement involved any financial payment, but Rice will be without a car after the company confirmed it will be confiscating the $100,000-plus Jaguar XF that Rice had been in possession of since the sponsorship deal was penned in February.
“We will be taking the car that she’s been using back,” Jaguar spokesman Mark Eedle told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Good for Jaguar — words have consequences and they were well within their rights to dump Rice after her idiotic homophobic comments. Their web page devoted to Rice has already been taken down.
While Rice has been blasted by ex-pro rugby player Ian Roberts for her comment, another gay athlete has forgiven her, while not condoning what she said. Diver Matthew Mitcham, a teammate of Rice, tweeted this (I have combined several of his tweets):
It was offensive & very thoughtless, but being friends with her for 2yrs, I know she is not homophobic. … She luvs gays but used very ill-chosen language. … I don’t in any way support or condone WHAT she said, but her apology & remorse is genuine & we are gd friends.
I understand Mitcham standing up for a teammate, and he knows her much better than I. But Rice is a high-profile gold medal-winning athlete and needs to realize that this provides her with great benefits but also responsibilities.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 5:10 AM
Boo hoo. She might not be a homophobe, as Matthew Mitcham said, but at best she’s the sort of person who uses the word ‘faggot’ in casual conversation without any thought, so she’s still an idiot. (An idiot without a free Jaguar, ha!)
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 7:34 AM
Jag-off…
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 8:51 AM
Maybe she had a “Dr. Laura Schlessinger” moment, without being blonde.
It would be interesting to know what she was thinking when she referenced gays as if they were competitors for sponsorhips.
Did she have an ongoing friendly competition with Mitcham?
Or is she really jealous that gays have actually gotten some play?
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Gays suck. Literally.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 12:31 PM
I’m disappointed that Mitcham would jump to her defense. Someone who isn’t homophobic doesn’t get on Twitter and say “faggots” in a derogatory manner – especially someone with over 8,000 followers.
I wonder why he wasn’t defending Jason Akermanis when he said some off-color comments….
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 12:54 PM
not everything is black and white, cyd. i applaud mitcham for telling it like it is for teenagers and people in college. while many people i know and are friends with use the term “faggots”, it doesnt mean theyre homophobic. its certainly an idiotic use of words and i truly do hate it, but unfortunately its well established in our vocabulary.
i will say it AGAIN, because many people on this site have selective reading: i HATE the use of the word faggot or “thats gay”, however it is not a black & white issue and doesnt automatically make someone a homophobe if they use it.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 3:05 PM
Jaguar should give her old sponsorship to Mitcham.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Chad, you need some new friends. No one should be using that word – it’s just unacceptable.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 5:17 PM
@ Chad – From Maxx’s comment above:
“…she’s the sort of person who uses the word ‘faggot’ in casual conversation without any thought, so she’s still an idiot.”
I would add that anyone who gives people who use “faggot” in conversation w/o any thought a pass are idiots too.
on Sep 7th, 2010 at 7:17 PM
Jaguar is this not an over reaction as the comment made was something said in the heat of the moment to remove sponsorship and the car just seems crazy I had until I saw this been looking a purchasing a new Xf but are not so sure I encourage you to think again. Surely one persons comment that to me seems a general comment should not be taken to heart for goodness sake its not even aimed at the brand give her the contract back signed an expat kiwi who had never heard of stephanie rice until this silly .ews article. Was posted
on Sep 8th, 2010 at 5:53 AM
Chalk this up to – thoughtlessly bigoted language that falls out while the person is obliviously trying to communicate something else.
Along with the phrases “Indian giver” – chirped by my great-aunts without any awareness of it being racist, just because they used it growing up, or “pot calling the kettle black” (with the implicit assumption, as old as the phrase, that “black” is an insult)
Not to mention all the many, many gender specific phrases which implicitly are against women – “take it like a man,” “be a man,” “grow some balls,” the fact that comparing boys with girls is considered an insult, “Sissy”(a girl’s name, Sissy), “Nancy-boy”.
Aside from religious-based bigotry, I don’t know why any woman would hate gay men – most men that hate gay men also implicitly disrespect and despise women.
I wouldn’t give her the Jaguar back, but the contract and the 100,000 dollar car are enough to pay for one stupid phrase. She doesn’t deserve to lose her friends and her reputation also. If she’s a good person worth defending then it’s brave of Micham to defend her at the time when everyone else is throwing stones.
on Sep 8th, 2010 at 8:15 PM
I thought her apology was genuine, and that’s what matters to me.
If anything, the interview with Ian, he comes off as unforgiving and callous. Maybe he has a right to it, but when you see a woman break down in front of cameras, quickly react to her mistake and publicly apologize for it, and Ian’s reaction is “too bad”, to me he is not casting himself in a good light.
She apologized, it seemed sincere, and I think compassion is owed.
As for people who say a woman has no reason to hate gay men? Are you stupid? Just look at Maggie Gallagher and Carrie Prejean and Anita Bryant and Concerned Women For America.
There are plenty of women who hate gay men because women themselves enforce gender roles too and hate people who cross gender stereotypes not fitting with their gender. Just like homophobic straight men.
What does annoy me with Mitcham is that he’s just like Whoopi Goldberg with Mel Gibson. Except Mel Gibson didn’t make a mistake and apologize for it, he’s just a full on bastard– but both Goldberg and Mitcham think that because they’re minorities and the perpetrator is friends with them, then the perpetrator isn’t prejudice.
No, Goldberg and Mitcham. What it means when a friend of yours says a prejudiced thing is that they fooled you well enough to think them different, that’s all.
on Sep 9th, 2010 at 9:47 AM
Whether her apology was genuine or not, she deserves to lose her contract with Jaguar, and I would think twice about buying any product from a company that continues to employ her as an endorser. Her comments were said with malicious intent. Her immediate reaction to a victory for her nation’s rugby team is to slam the losers as f**#@ts? That is appalling! If she had used an ethnic, religious, or ethnic slur Rice would be more roundly condemned!!!
Matthew Mitcham may or may not be right about Rice. Nevertheless, she should pay consequences for her actions. Her tearful apology is not enough!
on Sep 9th, 2010 at 11:11 AM
@ChrisB
“Pot calling kettle black” isn’t at all racist; it’s a phrase from a time when cooking ware was made from black iron, so pots and kettles were all black. It means someone accusing someone else of having a characteristic that he himself has.
on Sep 9th, 2010 at 11:45 AM
Matt should defend Jason Too…..
on Sep 9th, 2010 at 11:48 AM
She cried during her apology…typical pyschopath manipulation….
on Sep 9th, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Wow, are we really setting the bar that low for psychopath now?
Good for Jaguar; she was given this for her public persona and in public, she did something that was a huge mistake. But also good on Matthew Mitchum for sticking up for his friend.
This isn’t an unforgivable moment. Given ‘faggots’ place in the always changing language, all her tweeting it proves is that she’s an idiot, not some rabid homophobe. I’m not going to be friends of Stephanie Rice, but I probably wasn’t going to do that before either. That sort of language shouldn’t be used by others that way, but the fact that she’s apologized (and actually done some good by bringing a discussion of the issue of offensive anti-gay language to the forefront), I feel that she’s done more than enough. If her sponsors continue to drop her, that’s their choice. Just as it’s our choice to support or not support those who continue to have them represent their product. There’s a certain point where you need to focus on the issues that are truly important, and getting a pound of flesh from Stephanie Rice isn’t one of them. To dismiss her apology as psychopathic — or even insincere — is continuing to play the victim; it’s time for folks to man up, and either take action or forget about it.
on Sep 10th, 2010 at 4:48 AM
it’s not like this girl asked to be a role model for gay youths… she just wants to swim… it’s sensationalizing pricks like you guys that make professional athletes get so fucked up. you put them on some kind of moral altar and squeeze the humanity out of them with your asinine expectations.
besides, who cares? it’s not like being gay is a culture, a religion, an ethnicity, a nationality… it’s just a lifestyle decision… putting your dick where everyone else takes a shit is not culture… you’re on par with bestiality fans and people who stick fruit in their cunts.
on Sep 10th, 2010 at 7:49 PM
Here in Australia Mitcham comes off the winner, Roberts are the respected older gay, and Rice the pivot point to test where we are in relations.
Mitcham’s maturity for his youth is remarkable for humour, wisdom, and first-hand experience of giving a gay face to people that are suspicious of gays. You can’t be afraid of this magnanimous young man.
I greatly respect Roberts who expresses the older gay perspective who has felt anti-gay hate for longer and more acutely.
Rice is a young person who said something in excitement and is being hurt by a moment.
I have made so many stupid mistakes, hurt so many people, and so lucky to be an unknown so that no one could make any money by putting my stupidity in the news. But I’m wise enough to respect Roberts, forgive Rice, and admire the promise of youth like Mitcham changing things for good.
on Sep 10th, 2010 at 10:57 PM
ger, the language and use of language is ever changing. it is becoming more and more socially acceptable for young people to say “yo, my n_gga’ to their black friends, and for black people to find that acceptable. the interpretation of language is very much changing.
let me make it clear: i really dont like it when the word “faggot” is used, by my friends or not. but i understand the use of language is changing, and i ALSO know that all of my friends are for gay rights and love me the same way as a gay man. their use of language doesnt mean that theyre homophobes. they maybe idiots, but not homophobes lol
on Sep 11th, 2010 at 6:04 AM
haha well I guess if you like being friends with idiots it’s OK then
on Sep 11th, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Jaguar knows who is buying their cars. She’s history.
on Feb 23rd, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Why is she even famous in the first place? Because she can swim? Does she deserve a Jag for that? I don’t see that kind of sponsorship for Mitcham. It’s because she’s a woman, and she’s ‘hot’ that anything can be forgiven, and she’s treated like royalty.
People put her on a pedestal for the wrong reasons; it’s only fitting that her stupidity not be rewarded any more than it has already been.