Michael Irvin on Odell Beckham: "Everybody goes after him with gay slurs"

Odell Beckham told Michael Irvin that the Carolina Panthers were not the first team to taunt him with gay slurs, according to the New York Daily News. Dealing with such trash talk has been a weekly thing, Irvin said.

"“He deals with it a lot. For some reason, everybody goes after him with gay slurs. He’s a different kind of dude. He has the hairdo out, he’s not the big muscular kind of dude. The ladies all love him. He’s a star. I wonder why people are going in that direction. It blows my mind. I told him he can’t let stuff that people say get to you,” Irvin said."

Irvin said he and Beckham have spoken on the phone every day since the New York Giants wide receiver’s contentious game on Sunday which resulted in a one-game suspension for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Josh Norman.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera said his players denied using any slurs toward Beckham and suggested the accusation could be an attempt at spin control.

Irving is not sure he could handle similar taunts.

"“I would like to think I could handle it correctly,” he said. “But I can’t promise you that. Really, nobody can. That is why they give you leniency for crimes of passion.”"

What a mess. The NFL needs to come down hard on this type of nonsense as soon as possible.

[New York Daily News, Image via USA Today Sports]