Did First Take manipulate postgame video clip to make Cam Newton look bad?
Did ESPN manipulate a clip of Cam Newton speaking in his postgame press conference on Sunday to make him look bad? It sure seems like it.
While watching “SportsNation” on ESPN Monday, I saw a video clip of Newton answering a question about Colin Kaepernick mocking him by doing the Superman celebration. The clip played on “First Take” earlier in the day, and it also aired on “SportsNation.”
In the clip, Newton is asked whether Kaepernick doing the Superman celebration bothered him.
“That’s not the first nor will it be the last time somebody does that,” Newton said.
Cam then said “umm” and “but” and was looking to see if anyone else had a question. It sounded like someone — most likely a PR director — said “thank you” to let Newton know he was excused and could leave. So Cam walked off the podium.
The way the clip was presented, it seemed like Cam walked out of the interview because he didn’t like the question about Kaepernick doing the celebration and that he was being a poor sport. But if you watch Cam’s entire postgame news conference on the Panthers website, you’ll see that that was the last question of a 10-minute long presser. Newton gave thoughtful, detailed comments to the reporters and was congratulatory of the Niners. He gave a fine postgame media session for someone whose season ended.
If that edited clip from ESPN lacking context was the only clip of Cam you saw, you probably walked away with the impression that Newton was bitter and has a bad attitude. In reality, he behaved in the completely opposite manner.
