You knew somebody was eventually going to say something stupid when it came to the current state of the NFL.
Meet Adrian Peterson, that “somebody.”
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson made some controversial comments about the NFL labor situation in an interview with Doug Farrar of Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner. The interview was conducted just before the NFLPA decertified.
“It’s modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money,” Peterson continued. “The owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money.”
Farrar took out the quote shortly after publishing. He tweeted that he wanted to give Peterson an opportunity to explain. Farrar described the comment as “a real misstep.”
As expected, AP is being ridiculed about the remarks. A person set to make $10.72 million in a down economy can’t refer to his job as “modern-day slavery” and not expect to receive backlash for it. In fact, at least one player has already taken to Twitter to disagree with what Peterson said. Below is a series of tweets from Packers’ running back Ryan Grant.
I have to totally disagree with adrian Peterson’s comparison to this situation being Modern day slavery..false..
Their is unfortunately actually still slavery existing in our world.. Literal modern day slavery.. That was a very misinformed statement
But I understand what point he was trying to make.. I just feel like he should have been advised a little differently
Actually, it’s hard to understand the point Peterson was trying to make. Is he saying he’s been forced to play football against his will the past couple of years? Is he viewed as property of the NFL or the Minnesota Vikings or can he come and go as he pleases? Is he treated poorly or met with violence if he doesn’t serve his employer?
As Grant noted, slavery still remains today so Peterson’s comment was pretty insensitive and, to use Grant’s words, misinformed. It was a dumb comment and he should take every opportunity to clarify what he meant (or better yet, tell everyone that it was stupid to even suggest such a thing).
If I’m AP’s publicist, I just fired myself.
