Editor’s Note: Another version of this article originally appeared in December 2022.
Lamar Jackson, the multi-year starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, non-apologized for his vulgar tweet two years ago in 2022, after the team lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, that personally insulted a fan, using a slang term at the core of which is homophobia.
“I apologize if I hurt feelings out there,” he said, adding that he ultimately deleted the tweet because his girlfriend said he might be hurting someone with the language. The Ravens clearly weren’t thrilled with his tweet.
He said he tweeted because he was bitter about the loss. But he had taken exception with the fan being bitter about Jackson’s performance and his contract with the team.
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“I feel like you should be bitter after a loss,” he said. “No smiles. I feel like the fans should be mad we lost, too. But not mad as us. We tried.”
Yet Jackson has never to apologize to the LGBTQ community, or gay and bi men, in particular, for taking his “eat dick” language as rooted in homophobia. Saying you’re sorry “if I hurt feelings” is not an apology, and it certainly doesn’t take ownership of what he did.
He also didn’t apologize to the reporter he said defamed his character for raising the question of whether his language was rooted in homophobia.
The term is rooted in homophobia — and you can see that full explanation here — even if Jackson didn’t intend it that way.
This probably ends this brief episode, again with the LGBT community being told to shut up and suck it up and their concerns about language are invalid. Neither the team, the NFL, coach John Harbaugh nor Jackson has addressed the root of homophobia here, other than to tell gay men they’re defaming him.
Even as the Ravens head into the NFL Kickoff game for the 2024 season — visiting the Kansas City Chiefs in a tone-setting matchup — Jackson’s tweet with an anti-gay message still resonates.
Jackson had so many opportunities to make this right. He’s clearly not interested in that, weak non-apology or not.
