Robert Griffin III apologizes after using anti-black slur
Oct 17, 2022; Inglewood, California, USA; Steve Young (left), Robert Griffin III (center) and Larry Fitzgerald on the ESPN Monday Night Football Countdown set before the game between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Robert Griffin III apologized on Monday night for something he said during ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” show.
Griffin is one of the analysts on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show. The crew was breaking down the NFC playoff picture, and RG3 was talking about the 12-1 Philadelphia Eagles. He talked up Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts.
“People said that Jalen Hurts couldn’t get it done. He could not break from the pocket. He’s not the quarterback of the future. I think he proved all those jiggaboos wrong,” Griffin said.
RGIII pushing the boundaries of analysis you can get on TV pic.twitter.com/2JsxHG0p8B
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) December 13, 2022
After the video clip circulated on Twitter, Griffin tried to address the matter. He said he intended to say “bugaboos” rather than jiggaboos, but misspoke. He apologized for using the term, which is a disparaging name for black people.
Yooooo, Definitely need to clarify this. THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT TO SAY. Was trying to say “those Bug-A-Boos” in reference to haters and doubters. Regardless of my intention, I understand the historical context of the term that came out of my mouth and I apologize. https://t.co/Dy4vVuigin pic.twitter.com/DL0lqcz0jK
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 13, 2022
“Yooooo, Definitely need to clarify this. THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT TO SAY. Was trying to say “those Bug-A-Boos” in reference to haters and doubters. Regardless of my intention, I understand the historical context of the term that came out of my mouth and I apologize,” Griffin wrote on Twitter.
ESPN takes matters of race very sensitively, so there is little doubt they will major action against Griffin swiftly for using that word, even if it was unintentional.
