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Roland Martin’s Super Bowl Comments Advocating Violence Against Gays Spark Outrage

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GLAAD Calls For CNN To Fire Political Analyst and Contributor Roland Martin

CNN contributor Roland Martin has once again made extreme, anti-gay comments — and this time GLAAD has said, enough. During Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials, Martin took special offense, apparently, to an H&M commercial for David Beckham’s underwear, which showed Beckham wearing his Beckham briefs, and nothing else. Roland Martin wrote via Twitter, “Ain’t no real bruhs going to H&M to buy some damn David Beckham underwear!,” and then, “If a dude at your Super Bowl party is hyped about David Beckham’s H&M underwear ad, smack the ish out of him!” Sunday night, GLAAD began a campaign calling on CNN to fire Martin: “Advocates of anti-gay violence have no place at CNN or Time Warner.”

GLAAD, which is the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, also notes:

Earlier today, Martin posted to his Facebook fan page: “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”

Since making the comments, Martin has suggested his tweet regarding David Beckham was intended as a slight toward soccer fans. He did not respond to a question from Metro Weekly about why, if the tweet was about soccer and not based in anti-gay sentiment, he only referenced his concern about “a dude … hyped” about the ad and not any soccer fan.

Martin also commented on Twitter, “I said ladies, if your boyfriend don’t like sports, send him back to the factor. He’s defective. It’s called A JOKE.” We’re assuming he meant “factory.”

It is inconceivable for Martin to attempt to claim that his Facebook comment and his tweets were an attack on soccer and not homophobic.

Not only are they homophobic, but they advocate violence against gays, or anyone who doesn’t fall into Martin’s personal concept of how men are supposed to behave.

Frankly, it’s sad that a 43-year old journalist is so insecure that he feels the need to make anti-gay comments via Twitter advocating for violence against gays.

Watch: The David Beckham Super Bowl Ad That “Made” Roland Martin Advocate Anti-Gay Violence

Of course, Twitter was ensconced in outrage over Martin’s comments. Martin, for his part, told his detractors to “deal with it,” claiming their objections were “just another lie,” and claimed many were wrongly “assuming” they knew what he actually had meant. At one point Martin told MetroWeekly’s Chris Geidner, “what you’re missing is I’ve cracked on real men and football.”

GLAAD also notes the homophobia in Martin’s past.

A closer look at his record gives a window into Martin’s anti-gay views.

Last year, Tracy Morgan said during a stand-up routine that if his son were gay he would ‘stab him.’ Morgan later apologized and worked with GLAAD to send a positive messages to parents and LGBT youth.

Morgan understood how his words could influence his fans and put youth in danger, while Martin defended Tracy Morgan’s original remarks.

Wrote Martin: “Say I’m wrong. Fine. Say I’m insensitive to gays and lesbians. Fine.”
He continued: “Sorry, if I’m being honest here and not focusing on political correctness. I just believe that many of you would be shocked and amazed that you laughed hysterically at some of the most sexist, homophobic, racist stuff imaginable by comedians of all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds, genders and sexual orientations.”

At a time when the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that violence against LGBT people was up 23%, we need people in the public eye to speak out against the dangers of anti-LGBT violence, not openly encourage it.

Martin also has used his platform to misrepresent religious views about LGBT people. Far from the church being uniformly anti-gay, as Martin has claimed, LGBT people are welcomed just as they are into the full life of the church, in congregations and entire denominations across the United States. Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Episcopal denominations welcome LGBT folks, as well as many congregations from a variety of denominations.

On Martin’s website he ignores the medical evidence about the ineffective nature and harms associated with so-called ex-gay programs and instead praises his wife who he says “has counseled many men and women to walk away from the gay lifestyle.”

Roland Martin’s comments Sunday night, along with his comments during the Tracy Morgan episode, in conjunction with his 2006 column, “Faith – not social pressures – must govern church on issue of homosexuality,” make it clear Martin is incapable of representing the CNN brand appropriately.

Of Rev. Al Sharpton’s attempts “to create a faith movement among gay, transgender, lesbian and bisexual African Americans,” Martin wrote,

“What leaders of this effort must come to understand is that the fundamental issue is that gays and lesbians want to be accepted and embraced by the church, and not acknowledge that they are engaged, in the eyes of the church, in sinful behavior.”

Martin, equating homosexuality with alcoholism and theft, added, “for Christians, going to church is not supposed to be a feel good exercise. We are expected to be convicted, and encouraged to walk away from sin and live a more Christ-like life. In my church, this goes for the woman who is an alcoholic, the child who continues to be disobedient to his parents, the young lady who is hell-bent on stealing, and the person who is gay.”

“The church is called to love our fellow man, preach the good news and set the captives free – free from a life of sin.  That isn’t being homophobic. It’s being a Christian. And no one should have to apologize for that.”

Yes, they should, Mr. Martin. And it’s about time that you do. But we’ve been here before. We’ve time and time again asked you rot reconsider your anti-gay positions and apologize and you refuse.

GLAAD is right to call for your termination.

I hope your colleagues at CNN, including Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper, John King, David Gergen, Donna Brazile, and Wolf Blitzer personally sign this petition, and then pick up the phone and call the people at CNN’s Human Resources and file a complaint about your behavior.

You can sign GLAAD’s petition here, and contact CNN about Roland Martin here.

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'UNPRECEDENTED'

‘Unlawful Incursion’: Manhattan DA Schools Jim Jordan for Demanding He Testify in Ongoing Trump Investigation

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March 23, 2023

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg served up an extensive lesson in American jurisprudence Thursday in his response to House Republican Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan’s letter demanding he provide communications and testify before Congress on his ongoing investigation into Donald Trump’s hush money payoff to Stormy Daniels.

Jordan’s demand was seen by legal experts as a “purely political attack.” They note Jordan has no constitutional oversight authority over a duly-elected county district attorney.

Bragg is respectfully refusing Jordan’s demands.

Thorough his office’s General Counsel, Bragg sent Jordan a five-page letter (below) filled with numerous citations of federal and state law and legal decisions up to and including from the U.S. Supreme Court, that offer the Judiciary Chairman instruction in the law and that support the District Attorney’s refusal.

READ MORE: ‘Going Full Fascist’: Morning Joe Blasts Trump’s Latest ‘Dehumanizing’ Attack on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

In Bragg’s response, he calls Jordan’s letter “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution,” and notes it “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day, and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene.” He tells Jordan, “if charges are brought … it will be because the rule of law and faithful execution of the District Attorney’s duty require it.”

Jordan, who refused to comply with a lawful subpoena issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, had claimed his demand for documents and testimony was in furtherance of a legislative purpose, an effort to examine federal law. Bragg refuted that claim: “Congress cannot have any legitimate legislative task relating to the oversight of local prosecutors enforcing state law.”

“In New York, the District Attorney is a constitutional officer charged with ‘the responsibility to conduct all prosecutions for crimes and offenses cognizable by the courts of the county in which he serves,'” Bragg’s letter continues, offering an education into the concept of federalism and the U.S. Constitution. “These are quintessential police powers belonging to the State, and your letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states.”

In a section titled, “Compliance with the Letter Would Interfere with Law Enforcement,” the Manhattan DA’s response says Jordan’s letter “seeks non-public information about a pending criminal investigation, which is confidential under state law.” It adds that “prosecutor’s disclosure of grand jury evidence is a felony.”

Continuing to explain the law to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Bragg’s letter adds:

“These confidentiality provisions exist to protect the interests of the various participants in the criminal process–the defendant, the witnesses, and members of the grand jury- as well as the integrity of the grand jury proceeding itself. Like the Department of Justice, as a prosecutor exercising sovereign executive powers, the District Attorney has a constitutional obligation to ‘protect the government’s ability to prosecute fully and fairly,’ to ‘independently and impartially uphold the rule of law,’ to ‘protect witnesses and law enforcement,’ to ‘avoid flight by those implicated in our investigations,’ and to ‘prevent additional crimes.'”

READ MORE: Trump Lawyer’s ‘Critical Evidence’ Will Help DOJ Make Decision to Charge ‘Without Significant Delay’: Former Prosecutor

It continues, warning Jordan’s “requests are an unlawful incursion into New York’s sovereignty. Congress’s investigative jurisdiction is derived from and limited by its power to legislate concerning federal matters.”

Bragg twice offers to meet with staffers from Jordan’s Judiciary Committee to see if the Chairman’s requests “could be accommodated without impeding those sovereign interests.”

Read the letter posted by Axios’ Andrew Solender below or at this link.

 

 

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‘Going Full Fascist’: Morning Joe Blasts Trump’s Latest ‘Dehumanizing’ Attack on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg

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March 23, 2023

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Days after he wrongly claimed he would be arrested and urged his supporters to “protest,” Donald Trump unleashed a vicious and antisemitic attack against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and philanthropist and donor George Soros, leading “Morning Joe” Scarborough on MSNBC to declare the ex-president has gone “full fascist” and even “full Nazi.”

“I mean he’s just going full Nazi here, full fascist,” Scarborough said Thursday morning, just minutes after Trump’s remarks posted on social media.

“You’re doing the whole Jewish international banker thing and and dehumanizing him as an ‘animal,’ calling him an ‘animal,'” Scarborough said.

“That’s ugly,” Mika Brzezinski added.

“And that’s like like straight out of the playbook. Yeah, that’s really that’s really ugly. Yeah, it’s really interesting to see exactly what’s happened with Bragg. He hasn’t taken the bait.”

READ MORE: Trump Lawyer’s ‘Critical Evidence’ Will Help DOJ Make Decision to Charge ‘Without Significant Delay’: Former Prosecutor

Thursday morning, in an all-caps rant, Trump called District Attorney Bragg a “Soros backed animal who just doesn’t care about right or wrong no matter how many people are hurt.”

Scarborough was not being hyperbolic when he said Trump had gone “full Nazi.”

“This is no legal system, this is the Gestapo, this is Russia and China, but worse. Disgraceful!”

The Gestapo were Adolf Hitler’s Nazi secret police.

In a separate post Thursday morning, after his attack on Bragg, Trump again appeared to telegraph a call for violence, writing: “Everybody knows I’m 100% innocent, including Bragg, but he doesn’t care. He is just carrying out the plans of the radical left lunatics. Our country is being destroyed, as they tell us to be peaceful!”

It is possible the grand jury, which is meeting Thursday, could vote on an indictment of Trump. Some say any potential vote would not come before next week.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Burn It to the Ground’: Kari Lake Undeterred After State Supreme Court Smacks Her Down

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5 hours ago

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March 23, 2023

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Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake suffered a devastating blow after the state Supreme Court refused to take up her case challenging the results of her election last November, reported Newsweek on Thursday.

“Speaking at a rally organized by Turning Point Action, Charlie Kirk’s right-wing organization, Lake said: ‘They have built a house of cards in Maricopa County. I’m not just going to knock it over. I’m going to burn it to the ground,'” reported Giulia Carbonaro. “Lake shared a video of her speech, with a caption quoting her comments and a fire emoji.”

Lake is one of the only major statewide Republican candidates last year in a hotly contested race who has refused to concede her loss. She has alleged that her voters were illegally suppressed because of technical glitches with ballot tabulators in certain precincts of Maricopa County, the state’s largest population center, on Election Day.

In reality, there is no evidence of foul play, and Maricopa County election officials provided a backup method for affected ballots to be counted. Furthermore, one reason the glitch may have disproportionately affected Lake’s voters is Trump counseled voters not to mail in their ballots early, based on conspiracy theories — though Lake herself had done the opposite and asked her supporters to vote by mail.

READ MORE: Former Trump official: ‘Folks on both sides of the aisle want to see him arrested’

“Her challenge was thrown out by both Maricopa County Judge Peter Thompson and the Arizona Court of Appeals, which said Lake’s case lacked evidence that the hiccups in the county were intentionally caused by election officials to disenfranchise Lake’s supporters,” said the report. “Lake brought her case to the Arizona Supreme Court, which has declined to hear her case, but did send one of her claims back to a county judge for review. A superior court judge in Maricopa County is now reviewing Lake’s claim that the county did not follow signature verification procedures.”

On top of her litigation failures, Lake was referred to the Secretary of State’s office for investigation after she tweeted out images of what appeared to be real voter ballot signatures, which would be a violation of Arizona state law.

 

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