Two San Francisco 49ers (that’s San Francisco — one of the gayest cities in the world) are claiming they did not appear in an “It Gets Better” anti-gay bullying video. To add to the ridiculousness of their claims, their teammate, Chris Culliver, was forced to apologize last night for anti-gay comments he made this week, and their former teammate, Kwame Harris, was arrested on charges of assaulting his ex-boyfriend.
UPDATE: Dan Savage: ‘We’ve Removed The 49ers It Gets Better Video’
“49ers’ linebacker Ahmad Brooks and nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga, both of whom participated in the team’s widely-praised “It Gets Better” video last summer, have denied ever producing the clip,” the Huffington Post reports:
The players told USA Today Sports that they didn’t realize the video’s aim was to specifically combat bullying experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens.
“This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay,” Brooks told the publication. “But I didn’t make any video.” Later, after he was reportedly shown the video on an iPhone, the player clarified, “Oh, that. It was an anti-bullying video, not a gay [rights] video.”
Even more curiously, Sopoaga also denied taking part in the clip, even as a teammate reportedly tried to jog his memory. “I never went,” he declared. “And now someone is using my name.”
And, face.
Right…
This is extremely offensive.
In essence, these two extremely well-compensated NFL professionals are saying, “We didn’t know what we were recording was to help gay kids — we don’t want to do that.”
What kind of a message does that send?
Memo to 49ers PR department: Don’t even try to issue an “apology” or retraction from Ahmad Brooks and Isaac Sopoaga — we’re not buying it. Ever.