Is The Outing Of Gay Sportsmen And Women Via Gutter Gossip Journalism Really What We Want?
Posted: 8th Mar 2010 Author: Michelle Topics: Sport
Dan Le Batard has today written a piece for The Sacramento Bee on how the gossip world of journalism that has made it’s home in the entertainment world has now started to make it’s dark and dirty way into the sports world.
Using the case of how Alex Rodriguez being caught in a lift with a blonde who wasn’t his wife back in 2007 made mainstream news Le Batard talks about how this resulted in
“…hundreds of Red Sox fans behind home plate taunted Rodriguez as he walked to the batter’s box by wearing blond-haired masks. It felt, all at once, creepy and voyeuristic and funny and unfair.
We didn’t quite climb into Rodriguez’s bed, but we were giggling outside with our ears pressed to the wall. “None of our business” had rather literally become our business. Rodriguez eventually divorced.”
Going on to say he could “sort of/maybe/kind of understand” the media attention if it was concerning politicians or people of real power, Le Batard suggests that it shouldn’t be something that should be happening in the sports world, believing the behaviour is seen and judged differently if it is part of the sporting world or entertainment world, citing Tiger Wood’s 13 minute confessional to the US nation compared to Charlie Sheen not having to do a thing after holding a knife to the throat of his wife.
It is obvious from the article that Le Batard is unhappy with the way sports journalism is heading feeling that it is selling it’s soul and principles to draw the readers in and in turn make a profit, and the reality is with TMZ Sports on the horizon he’s probably right, not only in the way that sports journalism is heading, but also that it’s very likely that one of the first moves by TMZ Sports is going to be to out a gay male athlete.
The question is is it fair for them to do it? Entertainment sites like TMZ are more than happy to tell the world they believe someone is gay and the result tends to be the person in question will say no, we’ll all start gossiping but then we’ll forget about it. If TMZ Sports does the same thing is Le Batard right in his prediction that the result will be much harsher and more damaging to the athlete in question?
If the example of Irish hurling star Donal Og Cusack who came out last year is anything to go by then the answer would be yes. Speaking about the reaction to his sexuality from spectators, Og Cusack spoke of how whilst there had been a positive reception off the pitch, it is was quite a different story on with his mother would now no longer attend the matches because of the abusive and homophobic chants heard from the terraces. Would this happen to an actor performing on stage in a theatre? Would crowds gather outside awards ceremony just to direct homophobic slurs at them? Maybe in small numbers but not in the way you see from sporting spectators.
The sad thing is that this does look like what the future of sporting journalism is going to be. On the positive side it may lead to more sportsmen and women being as brave as Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas and Donal Og Cusack to come out of the closet before they pushed out which could make the sports world a less homophobic place but for it to have to happen via journalism that breeds in the gutters does indicate a rather sorry state of affairs.
