Why Do We Glorify Domestic Abusers?
As I’m sure anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock for the last 24 hours has heard that Floyd Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor in their much-hyped boxing match. The win put Mayweather at 50–0 for his career. There is little doubt that he’s the best boxer of this generation. But there’s always something that bothers me when he gets so much praise from the media and fans all over the world.
Yep, that about sums up my problems with Floyd Mayweather.
The man is basically a serial abuser at this point. The list of his transgressions goes on and on.
He has been accused of domestic violence on several occasions over the last 15 years, and has pleaded guilty to such charges more than once. He even served a 90-day prison sentence for once incident in 2010. But yet, he is still glorified and worshiped by boxing fans across the globe.
Now, I understand that in this particular fight, many of us wanted to root for Mayweather since McGregor has said some pretty racist shit during this fight cycle, from telling his black female fans that he is “half-black from the waist down” to telling Mayweather “Dance for me, boy”to even last night saying that he “turned Mayweather into a Mexican.” I totally understand why it might be hard for many blacks to root for that. But at the same time, Mayweather is a serial abuser of black women. How can you be okay with that? I guess racist statements against us are more pressing that violence? But really, people could have easily watched the fight without rooting for either fighter. No need to root for a domestic abuser just because he’s black.
This whole conversation really points to a larger issue with sports as an institution, though.
Domestic violence, including sexual assault, is more often than not just swept under the rug in the world of sports. Outside of the case of Mayweather, the NFL is a good place to start.
Look at Ezekiel Elliott. He is currently facing a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy involving a domestic violence incident with his then-girlfriend in July of last year. She posted pictures of bruises that painted a pretty harrowing picture of the events that transpired. She reported to the police that this activity had been going on for days. Elliott was not arrested due to “conflicting reports from the witnesses.” He and his legal team are currently trying to combat the suspension by discrediting the witness.
Look at Tremaine Brock. He was arrested on felony domestic violence charges this past April. The day after, he was released by the 49ers (which, props to them honestly). Just last week, the charges were dropped because the victim failed to cooperate and later said that the incident of purely verbal. This is in direct contrast with the visible facial injuries she had when the police were called to the scene. There’s no way we can know for sure if he really did commit the act, but all the signs were there. Yet he was signed by the Seahawks a couple weeks ago in the face of these charges.
Look at Terrell Suggs, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. He has a long and checkered history of domestic violence, including allegedly driving “a car containing their two children at a ‘high rate of speed’ while she was being dragged alongside.” Suggs still employed by the Ravens, and seen as a leader for the team and city.
Look at Ray Rice, former running back for the Ravens. He and his wife, Janay Rice, were arrested for a domestic violence incident back in 2014. The organization immediately came to his defense. A press conference was held where Janay Rice actually apologized for her role in the incident, despite claims that she was punched and drug from an elevator. Rice was suspended just two games, which was met with backlash and caused the NFL to revamp its domestic violence policy. Video of the incident surfaced some days later and it showed Rice punching his then-fiance in the face. Only then was he released by the Ravens. When the team had no choice to since the whole world had now seen the evidence on video.
The list really goes on and on and on. As long as these guys can run, catch, or throw a football, or throw a mean right jab, or have a killer jump shot, they can do whatever the want. It’s quite sickening honestly.
The problem with this is that nothing really will ever change until society changes. People need to stop supporting these terrible human beings.
People still buy tickets to their games. People still buy their payperview fights. People do everything to still grow their bank accounts.
Until these guys face full repercussions for their actions, they’ll just keep doing it. I don’t pretend to know how we can truly fix this problem, but I know that it has to start with raising awareness on these issues.
While everyone will sit here and sing praises for Mayweather, I’ll continue to call it like I see it.