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Racism, Rush Limbaugh and the NFL

For anyone in U.S. capitalist society who does not see the connection between racism and mass culture, consider the recent uproar involving the white, ultra-rightist, extremely racist radio host Rush Limbaugh and his attempt to invest in the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams.

In early October Limbaugh announced that he was in negotiations with Dave Checketts, who heads up a Wall Street-dominated investment group that funds the Rams, to become a part-owner. This is the same Limbaugh who in 2003 publicly demonized Donovan McNabb, the African-American quarterback with the Philadelphia Eagles, on ESPN. On a sports show, Limbaugh said that the media wanted McNabb to succeed because he is Black. This statement caused such a firestorm of controversy that ESPN was forced to terminate his contract.

This is the same Limbaugh who said that the enslavement of African peoples in the U.S. “had its merits” and that the NFL resembles a “game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.” The composition of the NFL is at least 70 percent African American.

Once it was announced that the Rams were even considering making Limbaugh a part-owner, a number of African-American players immediately denounced the Rams’ owners’ move. The progressive sports writer, Dave Zirin, wrote an Oct. 9 column for The Nation entitled “Why the NFL Must Flush Rush.” In the article he quotes a number of these players. For instance, New York Giants Mathias Kiwanuka said, “I don’t want anything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whatever he wants; it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play.”

New York Jets Bart Scott remarked, “I can only imagine how his players would feel ... . He could offer me whatever he wanted; I wouldn’t play for him.” McNabb stated at a press conference about Limbaugh, “If he’s rewarded to buy them, congratulations to him. But I won’t be in St. Louis anytime soon.” (nbcsports.msnbc.com, Oct. 8)

On Oct. 14 Checketts issued a public statement saying that Limbaugh’s bid had been turned down because “it has become clear that his involvement in our group has become a complication and a distraction to our intentions; endangering our bid to keep the team in St. Louis. As such, we have decided to move forward without him and hope it will eventually lead us to a successful conclusion.” (usatoday.com)

To make it perfectly clear, Checketts did not reject Limbaugh because of his neo-fascistic views. On the contrary, most of the owners of the 32 NFL teams are not only all-white but support the most ultra-right views and are members of the Republican Party. In his article, Zirin states that most of these owners are to the right of Dick Cheney. The NFL is run like a modern-day plantation, with the Black players treated like well-paid indentured servants when it comes to the lucrative multimillion-dollar profits they make for the owners.

The real reason why Checketts and his Goldman-Sachs backers rejected Limbaugh had everything to do with the growing number of Black players who expressed such strong negative feelings about Limbaugh that it could have potentially led to a boycott of playing the Rams. And even though, unfortunately, no white NFL players reportedly showed solidarity with the Black players against Limbaugh, their outspoken protest was a positive step forward in the ongoing struggle against racism and for players’ empowerment—especially with the prospects of a lockout by these greedy owners when the next collective bargaining talks begin before the start of the 2011 season.