Cam Newton Had An Opportunity to Apologize For Sexist Remark, Struggled Again

Cam Newton managed to insult and entire gender today and then completely failed when given an opportunity to salvage the situation. During a press conference Newton was asked a routine question by Jourdan Rodrigue, a Carolina Panthers beat writer for the Charlotte Observer, and he responded by saying it was “funny to hear a female talk about routes.” What happened next will only inspire more head shaking.

Not long after that tweet the Panthers released a statement saying that Newton had “expressed regret.” That’s good!

Except that an hour later there was a statement from Rodrigue saying that Newton had not apologized. That’s not good.

Finally, an article about the situation from Rodrigue’s publication, The Charlotte Observer gave some details about the pair’s conversation after Newton’s “funny” remark.

"After the news conference, Rodrigue wanted to find Newton and talk about what he said. She did catch up with him briefly. The conversation, according to Rodrigue, was not taped but went something like this: She asked the quarterback if he really didn’t think a female could understand routes. Newton said she wasn’t really seeing specific routes when watching the game, she was just seeing if somebody was open. She argued that he didn’t know what she saw nor how hard she had studied football, and that maybe the two of them needed to have a deeper conversation. Newton said that maybe he should have said it was funny to hear “reporters” talk about routes and that, if she actually did know about them, then she knew more than most reporters. Then he gestured toward the locker room, still filled with her colleagues."

Yikes! So Newton doubled down by saying Rodrigue couldn’t understand routes and then tried to backtrack by saying he meant reporters in general. The conversation ended with Rodrigue asking Newton if he knew her name. He did not, despite the fact that she had been covering the team for over a year and had previously introduced herself.