The Internet is Up in Arms Over Cam Newton Giving 'Million Dollaz Worth of Game' His Thoughts on 'Bad Bitches' and 'Knowing How to Cater to a Man's Needs'
Cam Newton on Million Dollaz Worth of Game:
“I had a perfect, a perfect example of what a man was in my life by my father. My parents have been together for 36, 37 years now and it’s a beautiful thing
"I grew up in a three parent household. My mom, my father, and my grandmother. And I knew what a woman was. Not a bad bitch!
“A bad bitch is a person who’s just, you know, ‘Girl I’m a bad bitch, I’m doing this, I’m doing that.’ I look the part but I don’t act the part. There’s a lot of women who are bad bitches. And I say 'bitches' in a way, not to degrade a woman, but just to go off the aesthetic of what they deem is a Boss Chick.
“Now a women for me is, handling your own but knowing how to cater to a man’s needs. Right? And I think a lot of times when you get that ascetic of ‘I’m a boss bitch, Imma this, Imma that.’ No baby! But you can’t cook. You don’t know when to be quiet! You don’t know how to allow a man to lead."
These are the comments that have made Cam Newton our nation's most electrically charged lightning rod today. In an almost 90 minute discussion that dealt with Newton's thoughts about everything from his religious faith to parents being involved in their kids' lives to raising his kids without cellphones to, of course, his football career, these four paragraphs are what is making him Society's Greatest Threat to Women or America's Champion of Traditional Values, depending on who you're talking to.
The anti-Cam faction:
The pro-Cam supporters:
And there is life in 2022 in a nutshell. A free agent athlete expresses his thoughts on what makes for a solid family dynamic based on his parents' almost four decades of marriage. In doing so, he inadvertently wanders right into the No Man's Land between the trenches of America's great Culture War to End all Culture Wars. And takes a hail of bullets from all directions that might cost him a chance to get back into football.
Given that the NFL is already fighting off charges of widespread charges of sexism by a half dozen legal authorities, the timing of this is less than ideal for a player looking for work. Especially one who already has a mark on his permanent record when it comes to his public comments about the ladies:
Pro Football Talk - In 2017, when Cam Newton was gainfully employed as the starting quarterback of the Panthers, he made a ridiculously sexist remark during a press conference. It was so ridiculously sexist that the league issued a statement condemning it. …
That kerfuffle flowed from Newton answering a question from Jourdan Rodrigue, then of the Charlotte Observer, about the physicality with which receiver Devin Funchess runs his pass routes by saying, “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes. It’s funny.” …
If Newton were currently the starting quarterback of an NFL team, he’d take plenty of heat (justifiably) for these outdated views regarding gender roles and obligations. These comments will serve only to make it harder for Newton to get a roster spot on any NFL team — especially at a time when six attorneys general have put the league on notice that the NFL must start treating women differently than it has.
Make of this what you will. I've watched most of the podcast and found Newton to be what he's been since he first came into the public eye at Auburn: Thoughtful. Engaging. Expansive. And above all, honest. To a fault. We claim to hate it when athletes hide their true thoughts behind carefully controlled platitudes and agent-approved cliches. But then when a guy like him tells us what he truly thinks about relationships, gender roles and family, he sets off a political firestorm in a culture that is basically a powderkeg just looking for a spark to ignite it. I don't remember this kind of thing happening when say, Dan Marino or Joe Montana was out of the league and giving interviews. But like the old curse goes, "May you live in interesting times."
P.S. Speaking personally, just for me: I'm a few months away from my 29th wedding anniversary. And I recall the first time I introduced the Irish Rose to my sister and sisters-in-law, they told her, "The best thing about being in the Thornton family is you never have to cook. These guys do all of it." And all these years later it's truer now than it ever was. Make of Newton's comments what you will. All I'm saying is it must be nice to have someone cook and cater to you.
P.P.S. Speaking as a Patriots fan, I'm once again glad Mac Jones beat Newton for the starter's job last year. Because if he was still with the team and said this, it would cost us all our draft picks.