Washington Commanders executive Rael Enteen, the Vice President of Content for the club, has been reportedly fired after he shared some unflattering observations about the team’s Black players and hip-hop music.
“A big chunk [of the Commanders roster] is very low-income African-Americans that comes from a community that is inherently very homophobic,” Enteen reportedly told O’Keefe Media.
He wasn’t done there.
“I love hip-hop, hip-hop is very homophobic,” he reportedly added. “It’s a cultural thing that I hope gets better.”
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The Commanders quickly suspended Enteen when the comments went public.
“The language used in the video runs counter to our values at the Commanders organization,” NBC Sports reported. “We have suspended the employee pending an internal investigation and will reserve further comment at this time,” the team said in a statement.
Now it seems the team has fired him.
The Commanders’ franchise has had a tenuous relationship with some racial minority groups, particularly many Native Americans who fought for years to get the “Redskins” nickname of the franchise changed. It wasn’t until 2020 and the elevation of Black Lives Matter that year that ultimately led to a change in nickname and team ownership.
Last year, Commanders player Kendall Fuller supported a rabidly anti-LGBTQ organization with his My Cause My Cleats, doing so on the Commanders’ Pride Day.
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Kendall Fuller supports Fellowship of Christian Athletes with his My Cause My Cleats. He and the Washington Commanders have declined to comment.
By Cyd Zeigler | December 1, 2023
Fuller is no longer with the Commanders, signing with the Miami Dolphins.
Washington was also the first NFL team to host an official LGBTQ Pride Night during a game. Others — including the New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams and New York Giants — had certainly made huge outreach steps to the community. Yet Washington has a unique place in the history of NFL outreach to LGBTQ fans.
The club hired the out gay son of then-head-coach Ron Rivera as a front office staffer during Ron’s tenure, and the team highlighted Christopher Rivera’s story.
I don’t intimately know the make-up of the Commanders locker room, or the Black men there. Still, as I’ve written several times before, my experience with Black men in the Los Angeles area football officiating community has been largely welcoming, despite virtually everyone knowing that I’m gay and married to my husband.
The NFL has, through the tenures of both commissioners Paul Tagliabue and Roger Goodell, made sure the LGBTQ community felt at home in the league. That has resulted in many people across the league front office and teams coming out.
In addition, at least 16 current and former players have come out publicly over the last 50 years.
That’s a powerful message.
What will come of this episode with the Commanders? A suspension of undefined length, then back to the grind of the NFL season.
Because ultimately, if a gay player comes out in an NFL locker room, the players will deal with it just fine. They’ll have to. Most of the roster is within one bad mistake of being cut. And they all also know that, to win the Super Bowl, getting along and accepting teammates is a huge step toward that goal.
