Robert Griffin III is on the cover of GQ’s September edition, and the magazine has a feature article on the Washington Redskins quarterback. One of the subjects that came up in the feature was former ESPN TV host Rob Parker’s comments questioning Griffin’s blackness. Parker cited Griffin’s white wife and asked whether RG3 was a brother or cornball brother.
[Video: Rob Parker questions Robert Griffin III’s blackness]
According to GQ, Griffin seemed to bring up the Parker issue on his own by reciting some lyrics from Waco, Texas, rapper Quistar’s song “Changed the Game.” Griffin knows Quistar from their high school days, and that particular song contains several lyrics related to the Parker-Griffin issue. Griffin recited some of the lyrics in front of writer Brendan Vaughn, which led the quarterback to share his thoughts on the matter.
“I haven’t blown the song up, because I don’t think it’s right to make fun of Rob Parker for losing his job,” Griffin said. “There’s some wrong in what he said, but there’s some wrong in him losing his job as well. And I don’t want people to think that I, you know, that I’m trying to stick it to Rob Parker, or that I’m happy he lost his job. But I was very unhappy with the things he said. I mean, why did he say that?
I don’t think there was any wrong in Parker losing his job over the comments. People who are on TV for ESPN are leading opinion makers. Who wants a guy so focused on creating racial divides representing their network?
Though Griffin does say he was bothered by the comments, saying he thought there was some wrong in Parker getting fired shows his consideration toward others.
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Photo credit: Ben Watts/GQ
