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Ex-NFL player blames team’s loss on too many ‘white dudes’

September 2, 2024 | | Print Article

A former NFL player’s take on a college football loss begged the question of what would have happened if “you substitute the word ‘white’ for another color.”

The start of football season undoubtedly means different things for different people and for former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White it meant a chance to stick his foot in his mouth. In particular, as the No. 14 ranked Clemson Tigers took on the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs, their blowout loss was accredited to “[too] many white dudes on the field…”

In a post that had drawn over 4 million views since Saturday, White, a native of South Carolina, expressed frustration at the Tigers who ultimately lost 34-3, and wrote, “Clemson got way [too] many white dudes on the field on offense this ain’t them. [You] mean to tell me [you] only got one black dude out there making plays that’s a recruiting problem.”

Image via X

Some may recall that Saturday’s remark was not the former Falcons’ first go-round with incendiary remarks as during his NFL career he found himself having to apologize for his reaction to the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.

In 2013, which happened to be the last time that Clemson defeated Georgia, White took to X after Zimmerman was found not guilty for the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin, prompting him to react, “All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid.”

Faced with backlash for his response, he went on to post the following day, “I understand my tweet last nite was extreme. I never meant for the people to do that. I was shocked and upset about the verdict. I am sorry.”

Similarly, the four-time Pro Bowler was back on X Sunday with an apology that read, “I am getting a lot of blow back for the [too] many white players comment I apologize if someone thought I was being racist which everybody around me knows I’m not. I looked out there and 10 of the 11 players were white I can’t recall ever seeing a Clemson team like that.”

Image via X

White had further comments about the transfer portal refusing Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney and said, “To be honest with you I like Dabo and how he runs his program. It’s very faith driven and one of the best programs in the nation but if [you’re] not going into the portal or [gonna] pay these kids [you’re] not going to get the top skill players in the country. There Dline is great yesterday.”

Swinney himself said to the press after the game, “When you get beat like that, that’s on the head coach. Complete ownership of an absolute crap second half. Sometimes you get your butt kicked and we did today.”

“People say whatever they are going to say,” he added. “Doesn’t matter what I say. We do what’s best for Clemson. When you lose like this, they’ve got every right to say whatever they want and write whatever you want.”

Despite the apology from White, backlash continued for the remark on social media as users envisioned the uproar and wall-to-wall coverage they believed would have occurred had the racial comments been reversed.

Kevin Haggerty
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