I’m a big fan of athletes being on Facebook, Twitter, or any means of direct communication with their fans. They can give ESPN and beat writers the cookie cutter answers, and then open up in the privacy of the social media site of their choosing. But this isn’t always a good thing.
Take Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett. Marty B has had ups and downs with YouTube. He got in trouble for his Cowboys Rap, but has bounced back nicely with a Cap’n Crunch Rap. Until Now.
Marty B’s latest offering is titled “The Black Olympics” and features him and his brother Michael of the Seattle Seahawks. The video sets black YouTube users back 1000 years.
If the Chapelle Show was doing “The Black Olympics” I’d probably still be laughing. Marty B’s version is an embarrassment. There’s a difference between a professional comedian attempting racial humor and some backup tight end with a YouTube fetish getting his brother to join him in ignorant infamy. You’re not gonna see Ryan Braun and Kevin Youkilis having a money counting race in “The Jewish Olympics” and Yao Ming won’t be battling Yi Jinlian on the Autobahn. Stick to rapping Martellus. Or better yet, put the Internet down for a while.
July 14th, 2009 at 10:04 am
So now only comedians can poke fun at stereotypes? What qualifies someone to be able to do this? A masters degree in comedy? He was just having fun and everyone jumps on him for it. I think it’s hilarious that some people have the balls to say what’s acceptable and not when it comes to comedy. Dave Chapelle probably would laugh at this and everyone else for getting jacked up about it. And as Marty B said in response, “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”
July 14th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Well if thats his way of having fun, so be it, And for those who got offended because he’s not a comedian get over it. Like only comedians can be funny. What about before they became famous. Would you say the same thing. Some folk may be mad because they didn’t think of it first. I did’nt find anything wrong with the video. We all sometimes do things to pass time, and that was just one of those things that you do when you out trying to have fun.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:30 am
This is what I love about stereotypes and the people who cringe when they hear them. In general they originate somewhere, typically in partial truth. Just as much as black’s like to make fun of the fact that whites can’t dance or jump, whites love to make fun of Chicken, Watermelon and Koolaid. At least this guy can laugh at the fact as much as white guys have to do the same. I think it is actually progress instead of regress. For goodness sakes, we have a black president, 75% of all athletes who excel are black and most professions are equal based on their macro demographic %’s. At some point we have to be able to laugh (as a whole) at this and not think that it is offensive. He didn’t call it the n**** olympics. And the fact that we are talking about three food items, that in themselves are delicious, makes this argument so much more ridiculous.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am
We’ve been told that to pay attention to race and stereotypes as Blacks is cumbersome and irresponsible because it no longer matters in America. Just a hint of truth, watermelon as a laxative is what allowed Africans enslaved in America to survive because the poisonous pig that would have killed all of the ancestors who initially were from rebellious muslim tribes whose systems were in shock due to this poison. The watermelon was a diuretic and yes, the slave masters, once assured this feeding these slaves pork would break their slaves physiologically enough to be tamed and psychologically, to protect their investments, began to pass this knowledge along and deprive slaves of any other foods to force them to eat such toxic waste in degradation. So thanks Martellus!
July 17th, 2009 at 8:16 am
If this were two Irish brothers having guiness chuging, jameson shots & bareknuckle boxing contest no one would be complaining. If it were two mexican guys eating tacos, and cramming their whole family into a the cab of a small pickup truck, everybody would be laughing. If this were on the Chapelle show or in a Martin Lawrence movie, everybody would be laughing. In fact I think I have heard Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence & Dave Chapelle all joke about these topics.
There are different foods that define different cultures, Spain has tapas, France has cheese and wine, black America has fried chicken and watermelon. I’d love to be able to tell you what defines the white culinary tradition but really we just steal all the good stuff from various cultures, seriously how good is fried chicken, deeeeelicious!
July 17th, 2009 at 9:03 am
People act like this concept just came up out of nowhere. The difference between black olympics and White men can’t jump is twofold. For One White men was funny and artistic. You can do racial humor but it must be tastefully done mainly because of it’s ability to offend. There was nothing funny about this. It was just two guys eating and drinking like savage animals. The second reason is; Yes black people are highly sensitive about stereotypes. Many of the stereotypes about Blacks are negative If you don’t believe me Write them out on a piece of paper next to a corresponding list of white ones and compare. A few are based in some truth but many are not. What makes them such hot buttons with people is the way these were portrayed not so long ago in media outlets like movies television and even the news. We’ve all seen the black guy who can barely speak in front of a mic and a camera. Is this the only guy they could find? There was an Al Jolson and Johnny Rebel. Unlike Chappelle or Rock and their “White jokes” there were no black people laughing at their shows, mainly because they weren’t allowed in. Although I can assure you they wouldn’t have laughed anyway. Those cooning images still linger in many minds today.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Black people that are worried about what White people think about them are the ones that were offended by this video.
Martellus Bennett and his brother are two successful Americans that do not make apologies for being of African decent.
Lighten up people.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
If you lived in or near a ghetto with poor black people at anytime in your life, or knew anyone that was poor, you would find the _humor_ in this. Unfortunately, too many people are misguided in commenting about this “setting black people back.” Seriously… get a sense of humor.
July 21st, 2009 at 2:34 am
When are young “Black Folk” going to start taking themselves seriously? Every other race does. If you don’t have respect for yourself nobody else will. I’m sure Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders of our past would not find Marty B funny.
The skit was just plain dumb.