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Fox Sports reporter Samantha Steele on Joakim Noah slur: ‘Offensive to whom?’

May 23, 2011, 5:47 PM EDT

21 Comments
samanthasteele

♪ SOMEbody’s maneuvering for a transfer to Fox News ♫ …

You may know Samantha Steele as “The next Erin Andrews,” the Fox College Sports sideline reporter who burst onto the scene at that network in 2009, and is quite easy on the eyes; which I’m sure didn’t hurt her resume. Perhaps she’s a bit frustrated with the speed of her career path, or maybe it’s because she was raised in Arizona, which let’s face it, is not exactly a bastion of gay civil rights. At any rate, Steele thought that she would check in with this Twitter comment on the $50,000 fine leveled against the Bulls’ Joakim Noah for yelling a gay slur at a fan during a playoff game with the Heat:

Can someone please clarify these Kobe/J Noah fines. What is the rule? You can’t say anything offensive? Offensive to whom?

Did Miss Congeniality say that calling someone a fa**** is not that big of a deal? Of course she did. And predictably, the tweet received some blowback. And predictably, Steele backtracked, claiming to be shocked that anyone thinks she’s a homophobe. Why, she was just asking an innocent question!

@JackSawyer68 @kansassports I’m simply asking who decides what is offensive. What is offensive to me may not be what’s offensive to u.

Oh brother. So presumably Steele is asking for a program which lists all offensive terms ever uttered by humans, and their corresponding NBA fines. Since no such is available, we’ll make it simple. Any profane expletive based on a person’s race, religion or sexual preference, aimed at that person during an NBA event, is cause for sanction. It’s what’s called living in a tolerant society. If that’s still not clear, try this:

Bigotry = Bad.
Punishing bigotry = Good.

You can Google that.

UPDATE: Did Ms. Steele really just delete all of her Twitter posts? Either that, or the Twitter machine is getting all glitchy, which wouldn’t be a first. Her profile quote is still there, however: God first, people second, cake third. Which explains the homophobia thing.

UPDATE: It’s back … yep, apparently a Twitter hiccup.

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  1. avermaver - May 23, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    not questioning a system that penalizes a person $50,000 for saying ****** is so msnbc. I give the edge to foxnews on this one

  2. briansullymd - May 23, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    Why are people with alleged biases or just dislike of homosexual people referred to as “homophobic” ? My recollection is that is a term that homosexual people tagged on those that openly opposed/questioned/slurred their lifestyle due to the supposed fact that they that attitude was created by a fear that said person was secretly homosexual themselves.

    What about a person without any such fears that simply is intolerant or non-approving? Seems to me that homophobic is a slur in itelf

  3. courtgolf - May 23, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    Sorry RB – you lose on this one. The problem here is that the left loves to scream “freedom of speech” when it comes to anything they prefer, but let someone lash out in a moment of anger and you’re right there willing to condemn that person.

    No matter what you say or do, someone somewhere can find a way to be “offended”. In neither the Kobe nor the Noah incident did the the person who was supposedly “insulted” protest. Only when the media stepped in, goosestepping to party lines, did any sort of “offense” appear.

    Is it silly and childish to call someone a name ? Of course – but it happens. Remember “sticks and stones may break my bones, but WORDS will never hurt me” ? The thought police forgot that a long time ago when they found out there was legal and political power in throwing people behind bars who didn’t agree with them.

    Strange thing – you never wrote things like this before you joined NBC.

  4. sdmfla - May 23, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    You freaking people ar idiots. You all and this chick should go live on an island. The NBA can control behavior that affects their product. If that guy then threw a beer at Noah in retaliation then Noah jumped into the stands at started a brawl then what would you say??!!

  5. sdmfla - May 23, 2011 at 11:20 PM

    *are, *and…

  6. actionjackson3 - May 24, 2011 at 12:21 AM

    Are you serious? All she did was ask some questions. Great speculation by the author. He must be a psychic. I can’t believe NBC publishes this garbage. Bookmark deleted.I get enough trash tabloid news in the grocery checkout lane!

    • hamstergram - May 24, 2011 at 12:58 AM

      Yes, I’ll be you do. You sound liek the kind of person whos apartment is filled with old National Enquirers. See you on the next episode of Hoarders.Here’s another question: what’s wrong with the jews wearing yellow stars? not hurting anyone. Hey, all I did was ask a question!

  7. gugurich - May 24, 2011 at 3:15 AM

    She went to Liberty University, which was founded by Jerry Falwell. That explains why she doesn’t find that word offensive.

    • briansullymd - May 24, 2011 at 1:08 PM

      Way to stereotype her. But at least you haven’t done so as many times (and for as many different reasons: looks, state of residence, religiousness, College) as the writer above.

  8. kahunaj - May 24, 2011 at 6:43 AM

    So, RB when Kevin Garnett blocked a shot and said “Get that Sxxx out of here N Word”. Shouldn’t he have been fined by the NBA? Isn’t the N word offensive? He wasn’t. Now if Dirk Nowitski had said that do you think he would have been fined? You bet he would have. So, it isn’t the word that is the issue, it is who says it. That is what makes these fines stupid.

    • huskerguy - May 24, 2011 at 7:40 AM

      Ahh… a voice of reason. It was ok for KG to say that. Didn’t you know the double standard here in America allows that?

    • cur68 - May 25, 2011 at 1:20 AM

      “RB”? To whom are you referring. I believe the author’s initials are “RC”.

  9. briansullymd - May 24, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Way to slander Steele by implying that she has only progressed this far based on her looks. Who’s stereotyping now ? She should be offended, and you should pay a fine.

  10. jsponaug - May 24, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    Apparently the author is above the law and libel doesn’t apply to him. He can presume all he wants, draw conclusions from those presumptions and then publicly post those conclusions on his blog for the public, all while defaming another. Great work!

  11. cheesesoda - May 24, 2011 at 7:57 PM

    ♪ SOMEbody’s maneuvering for a transfer to MSNBC ♫ …

    Did an idiot blogger say that asking a question has to be more than just a question, especially if it can be misconstrued into something being malicious? Of course he did.

    I know, I know, I’m not being very creative in mocking this post. Then again, it’s not very creative to take someone’s question and twist it in such a way to slander someone on a blog.

    It’s Twitter; it’s 140 characters (or less!), and it’s text. Text has a funny little way of not showing emotion and tone, and such a short post forces someone to shrink a question or statement that can make it seem a little vague. When she was questioned/attacked, she gave her reasoning. However, we all know that defending oneself is backtracking, and we wouldn’t be drama llamas (did I just really? Well, this post is already ridiculous, so why not?) if we just accepted it and moved on.

    I know, it’s a crazy, fringe concept, but it’s true, and to sum things up: sometimes a question is just a question.

  12. metalhead65 - May 24, 2011 at 10:34 PM

    so when will she be forced into re-education training.I mean sensitivity training? because you know we all must think alike and never ever utter anything that could be considered politically incorrect. using offensive terms does not make you racist homophobic or whatever else you toss in there. I don’t run around and hurl insults at gays but if I want to use a a term somebody finds offensive to my friend or while playing sports or video games with I will. you are only thinking about winning and not who might be insulted.unless I direct it to you shut up!. the constitution says we have a right to free speech not politically correct free speech but free speech. by the way have you ever attended one of those sensitivity training classes? I have and it was 3hrs. of pure hell. a rather large african -american woman blaming the white man for all the evils of society so forgive me if I do not seem sympathetic to the cause.

    • cur68 - May 25, 2011 at 1:22 AM

      metalhead I am in no way at all surprised to hear that you’ve been sent for sensitivity training. I’d ask if you learned anything but I can already deduce the answer.

  13. briansullymd - May 25, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    Anyone that questions her intelligence and/or her sincerity should read her excellent response that she posted on her blog:

    http://samanthasteele.com/?page_id=1201

    As a Dad to a young girl, I would be proud to have her grow up to be like Samantha – and I would likewise be very contemptous of people like the Chandler that belittle her and try and paint her with false colors. Cheap shot on your part Rick Chandler

  14. kneecapfarley - May 25, 2011 at 4:41 PM

    Are you kidding me Rick Chandler? Was the sports news barrel so empty that you had to create a story to write about?

    I believe Samantha asked a valid question. You could have done yourself a favor and attempted to answer her question!

    After Stern is gone and another person takes his place, will that person find the same words offensive? How does Stern give one player a fine and then give a different player a higher fine for saying the same thing? Shouldn’t the players be allowed to ask this without fear of you attempting to fill in some words on a blog?

    And because Samantha has a belief in God you want to attack her and demonize her for that? As she said in her article, the very same thing you have attempted to accuse her of, you and others are doing to her!

    She could have taken your road (the low one) and responded. However, she has shown that she is much more than beauty, she is smart. I’m sure her looks have helped her…but it is her brain that has shown you up!

  15. philpdx - May 30, 2011 at 12:21 AM

    I subscribed to this blog just so I could post to say that Chandler, you should be ashamed of your slander and innuendo, taking Samantha’s comments completely out of context. She in no way said or implied that a gay slur was ok. She simply said what several other sports commentators and fans have wondered – why were Kobe and Joakim fined different amounts? And who’s to say what is offensive and what is not? Where do we draw the line? And who determines that?

    Sports is an emotionally intense environment, and players say things in the heat of battle, or in the post-game news conferences, all the time – cursing, shouting, tossing the basketball, whatever – based on what they are feeling at the time, in the heat of the moment. And the cameras and mics are always there to catch every word, every expression. So how are we to make a definitive list of what gets fined and what doesn’t, and the amount? That’s all she was asking.

    The decent thing to do would be to remove this blog entry entirely, or print a retraction and apology to Ms. Steele.

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