Rob Parker’s comments about RG3
Back in 2012, when NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III was a rookie sensation taking the league by storm, he answered a question about how others perceive him as a black quarterback, stating that he’d rather be defined by his performance versus his race. Apparently, that wasn’t a good enough answer for ESPN’s Rob Parker (a fellow African-American), who went on the First Take show and said that Griffin is “not one of us,” and called him a “cornball brother.” There’s obviously no clear cut definition of what this means, but the obvious message is that Parker didn’t perceive Griffin as being “black enough.” Parker basically confirmed such sentiment, saying: “he’s kind of black, but he’s not really the guy you’d really want to hang out with, because he’s off to do something else.” ESPN responded first by suspending Parker for 30 days, but they eventually decided to terminate Parker.