Roland Martin suspended for “homophobic” tweets
Roland Martin (a political contributor to CNN) was suspended after tweets he sent during the Super Bowl sparked complaints from GLAAD and other groups that claimed the tweets promoted anti-LGBTQ violence. As Lisa de Moraes reported -
After three days of “careful consideration” and increasing pressure, CNN suspended political contributor Roland Martin for a series of Super Bowl tweets that GLAAD and other groups condemned as homophobic and said promoted anti-LGBT violence.
“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive” – CNN said in a statement Wednesday afternoon in announcing Martin’s suspension. “Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”
The Time Warner-owned cable news network did not say for how long Martin had been suspended or provide any other details. His last appearance was Tuesday night on CNN’s special election coverage.
“CNN today took a strong stand against anti-LGBT violence and language that demeans any community” – the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said Wednesday. The National Black Justice Coalition — the nation’s largest black LGBT civil-rights organization — said it was “encouraged by CNN’s stance against language that incites anti-gay violence.”
Martin posted his tweets during Sunday’s Super Bowl. That same day, GLAAD posted an online petition calling for his dismissal from CNN. At press time Wednesday, the petition had more than 7,500 signatures.
CNN had been feeling the heat over Martin since the game, when he tweeted that he thought a New England Patriot seen on the screen dressed all in pink needed “a visit from #teamwhipdat[expletive].”
Roland Martin.
Blogging at Ebony.com, contributing writer and author Dream Hampton weighs in on the Roland Martin Twitter scandal and suggests ways that it could be turned into a win.
Superbowl Sunday should’ve just been another big ish talking day for Roland Martin. The CNN commentator and Tom Joyner Morning Show regular spends about 20 percent of his Twitter time talking smack about sports. Yet it was a commercial featuring soccer superstar David Beckham in his underwear that put Martin on the field next to M.I.A., vying for most offensive sideline foul.
Tweeting like most of us tend to do-off the cuff and in the moment – Martin wrote: “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!#superbowl”. A few days following the game, CNN has announced that Martin would be suspended for an indefinite amount of time, citing his words as “regrettable and offensive.”
The statement is just so much masculinity posturing-a visceral reaction to an homoerotic ad of male flesh created to excite about one hundred million male viewers. The image of Beckham in his tighty-whities ranked #1 in an analysis of social media comments. A study showed that of the 109k viewers who tweeted or updated their Facebook status about Beckham, 83% were women. Alas, it was Martin’s tweet that caught the ire of GLAAD, who linked Martin’s comment to a pattern of equally offensive calls to violence by Martin, most notably his defense of Tracy Morgan after the comedian talked about stabbing his son should he come out of the closet as gay.
CNN suspended political analyst Roland Martin on Wednesday after critics called a series of his Superbowl tweets homophobic.
Martin created controversy after he tweeted about a Superbowl commercial -
“If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him! #superbowl.”
He later tweeted: “Who the hell was that New England Patriot they just showed in a head to toe pink suit? Oh, he needs a visit from #teamwhipdatass.”
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD, said the tweets advocated anti-gay violence.
Spokesman Rich Ferraro said in a statement on the GLAAD website he was encouraged CNN took the matter seriously.
Martin publicly apologized for his statements and agreed to meet with GLAAD.
Gay rights organizations have been targeting anti-gay comments they say lead to bullying and teen depression, especially in the wake of young suicides across the nation.
Bridget Siegel, external vice president of the Pride Student Union at UF, said statements like Martin’s could lead to misunderstanding and prejudice.
“What we have to do is try to prevent comments like this from being made” – Siegel said, “and from being made public to make sure we’re preventing suicides of innocent people.”
Norman Lewis (journalism assistant professor) said the most important question to this particular skirmish is whether Martin’s tweets were made in bias or ignorance.
“If someone is advocating violent words in response to perceived sexual orientation — that’s pretty indefensible” – he said. “I’d rather presume most people say things without realizing the impact of their words.”
There are countless things people say in everyday life, unaware of the harm those words could bring to others, said Lewis. Some Americans also have only been exposed to heterosexual relationships, leaving some to make assumptions regarding homosexuality.
However educated Martin may or may not be regarding sexual orientation, Lewis believed CNN’s reaction may depend on GLAAD’s feelings after its meeting with Martin.
“I think his future is in GLAAD’s hands” – Lewis said, “not CNN’s hands.”
Despite the brouhaha, some thought Martin’s remarks were harmless.
Doriah Bareket, a 23-year-old science management master student, said she wouldn’t have noticed the anti-gay undertone if it wasn’t pointed out to her.
“Guys make those kinds of jokes to each other all the time” – she said. “I think he probably shouldn’t have posted it online because of his position, but I don’t think this should be worth a large segment on the news.”