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Thursday, July 23, 2009 | 7:22am
[RANT] ESPN Neglects To Report on Ben Roethlisberger Sex Assault. RACIST?
Network claims that “because no criminal complaint has been filed” the story wasn’t worth “addressing publicly”
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger made headlines this week when he was accused of sexual assaulting an employee at Harrah’s Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Or did he? While Highbrid Nation does regularly report on sports stories, we primarly focus on those that have a urban interest or hip hop relationship of which this story appeared to have none…until now.
As background, a CIVIL suit, filed last week by Andrea McNulty in Washoe County, Nevada, alleges Roethlisberger sexually assaulted her in July 2008. McNulty claims that Roethlisberger asked her to come to his hotel room to fix the television. Once she arrived, he forced her to have sex. Curiously no criminal charges have been filed, however Roethlisberger faces several civil charges, including assault, sexual assault and battery, and intentonal infliction of emtional distress.
Such allegations, it would seem provide yet another black eye for the NFL. However the story interestingly enough hasn’t received legs and has been under-reported, no place more apparent than at ESPN, the network that has been diligent in exposing the infractions of the NFL’s BLACK players. Just last week, ESPN, not TMZ or Bossip or some other gossip outlet broke the video of Pacman Jones Vegas “Make It Rain” Night that would eventually lead to the shooting of a club employee. ESPN has been all over the Michael Vick dogfighting and subsequent imprisonment story. Tank Johnson, Chis Henry, The list goes on.
Now while you might have noticed I’ve been very careful recently not to cry foul at the drop of every alleged racially motivated incident. However, I’ve gotta throw the yellow flag on this one. In a statement released by the network ESPN said:
“At this point, we are not reporting the allegations against Ben Roethlisberger because no criminal complaint has been filed. As far as we know, this is a civil lawsuit that Roethlisberger has yet to address publicly.”
Oh so incidents involving YOUR premier players in YOUR PREMIER LEAGUE is not newsworthy unless its criminal? THAT’S BULLSHIT and I’ma show you why! When Giants Running back Ahmad Bradshaw was sentenced to cited for a NON-CRIMINAL INFRACTION for underage drinking at the University of Virginia in 2004 the story made SportsCenter. When he was once again picked up on petty larceny charges in 2006, ESPN reported it. But a former Superbowl MVP and quarterback for the reigning World champs is alleged to have sexually assaulted someone, it doesn’t get any ink?
When Roethlisberger dumbed out and fell off his bike and almost cracked his skull…it was in flashing lights, breaking news on the marquis. Now I’d be far too cynical to think that there’s some network-wide conspiracy behind why the news is completely absent from SportsCenter however there are racial undertones here. Skirting what could become a major story if the allegations are coroborated could look really bad for ESPN. Is it THAT important that ESPN which oh by the way is owned by Disney) make the black athlete look foolish while somehow protecting the white players, especially the stars? Is it that important to be a biggot. Jeeze.
FILED IN Editorials, Sports
I have to say that I never pictured it that way so far.
I thought maybe it was because the media has finally figured out that the more the post the story, the less the outcome means. If they posted about this all day, it would ruin Ben’s reputation even if he was found innocent later.
I don’t agree with your analysis, honestly.
ESPN never cared about ruining anyone’s reputation, so why do they care now? They report on all kinds of trivial stuff, allegations, accusations that many times have no merit. As Juan points out, many of the infractions reported are committed by Black players (the vast majority, really). Therefore, one can conclude that when a sports star of this player’s status is accused of something this serious, and sued, they would follow up on it, and if they don’t, it must be because of race.
Honestly I’m going to have to say you’re being naive if you believe that ESPN or anyone for that matter doesn’t have malice in their heart. You need to use your third eye and wake up.
Yes, I have to say Racist so far and I’m happy that there is a blog on here about it. It has been on my mind and highlighted even more with all the Michael Vick coverage, and the Steve McNair coverage. McNair quickly became “equal” for his death even though a young and damage female took him out. Cheating invites a broken family(divorce), unwanted tabloid press if the female breaks the story, STD’s or whatever but not murder. Most of the media AND including ESPN damages people’s names first and then they worry about the consequences later. Racism is an instinct not a learned behavior(a debate for another time), I see people protecting “their own” on all sides in this country.
RIGHT!!! it was almost as if Steve McNair was a criminal as well. He had never been in any trouble but I felt the coverage was slanted just because he was an athlete.
Whats odd about the the whole thing with Ben is that it seems under reported everywhere. Even here in Pittsburgh it’s barely news.
I think that’s because other outlets are looking to ESPN and they’ll follow their lead. If you’ve noticed since Juan posted this Ben had a press conference. They were front and center to report his public denial. That’s wack.
My arguement to the blog is that the Vick case is a totally different scenario. This is 1 year after the the alledged offense. Steve McNair’s case, it was a MURDER! Why would there not be total coverage?
I believe we will see more of this Big ben story after more things come to light. As for right now, all anyone knows is that some crazy bitch is accusing him of rape a YEAR AFTER the suspected incident. I think he’ll come out innocent anyways due to lack of evidence.
But honestly, this is totally different scenario than Vick, Stallworth, and McNair. By the way, you remember how crazy and buck wilde it was when bettis got accused? Yeah, it wasnt.
My arguement to the blog is that the Vick case is a totally different scenario. This is 1 year after the the alledged offense. Steve McNair’s case, it was a MURDER! Why would there not be total coverage?
But honestly, this is totally different scenario than Vick, Stallworth, and McNair. By the way, you remember how crazy and buck wilde it was when bettis got accused? Yeah, it wasnt.
hmm seem to have been posted twice. Read the first comment. from 04:58:10.
Its nothin new. The media waits for and african american to mess up so the issue can be beat to death. It dont even have to be a current african american star or athlete. Covering african american stars for some reason brings more ratings.
Black people rape, that’s what they do. I’m also intrigued that media haven’t come in terms with that and accept it as a part of the natural order. When white man rapes, this is a story and i back you up – they should pay more attention to the stuff like this!