Australian professional golfer Steve Elkington’s best days on the course are behind him, but he seems to think his wits are at their peak. The 51-year-old has become known for some of the off-color tweets he sends, so it was no surprise when he shared a controversial opinion about Michael Sam on Tuesday.
Elkington started off by calling it “embarrassing” that ESPN is covering Sam as a gay athlete.
ESPN covering Michael Sam as a gay athlete is embarrassing …..
— Steve Elkington (@elkpga) February 25, 2014
Several hours later, he made a homophobic joke that even homophobes probably wouldn’t be proud of.
ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine….
No one else expected to throw today
— Steve Elkington (@elkpga) February 25, 2014
When Elkington’s followers began bashing him for being narrow-minded, he clarified that he supports Sam but does not support ESPN telling viewers that Sam is gay. As we know, it is fairly newsworthy that Sam could become the first openly gay player in the NFL this spring.
Sam himself recently stated that he wants to be known as a football player and not a gay football player. If that is the point Elkington was trying to make, he did a horrible job of conveying it. The handbag joke was incredibly immature.
