You might have noticed this charming little fellow popping up in the corner of your screen during the 2nd quarter of New England’s blowout win over Denver. No, that’s not a decorative lawn jockey, placed there by ESPN to bring a smile to your face. That is what appears to be a Patriot fan wearing blackface and an afro wig. Good God, New England fans. You make this job too easy sometimes.
(Aw, man…no…just…aw, man…)
At first I thought it might just be an actual black guy. But then I remembered, no, this is Foxborough.
Somewhere in Los Angeles, Ken Rosenthal is feeling like Woodward and Bernstein when Nixon resigned. Somewhere in Medford, someone named Sully is posting on a message board blaming this on ESPN’s tint levels on last night’s broadcast. Somewhere in Milwaukee, C.C. Sabathia just said to himself, “Oh, hell no.” And somewhere in heaven, Baby Jesus sheds a single tear.
Now, I thought I was being sharp-eyed when I caught this last night, but apparently I wasn’t the only one with my racist-dar antenna up. Thanks to KISSING SUZY KOLBER for posting a proper screencap, if my photo of a paused TIVO screen isn’t good enough for you. It does seem like this has the potential to be the blog world’s next teapot tempest. But should it be?
Is there something wrong with a fan supporting Randy Moss so much that he wants to emulate him in every way? (Upon closer inspection, this might be the Official MossMask™, which makes it slightly less racist and slightly more bizarre.) Is this really different than wearing a Randy Moss jersey? Is there something inherently offensive about blackface?
(Why so serious?)
Yes, yes and yes. Picture yourself showing up to a Chris Brown concert in blackface, wearing a David Ortiz jersey and blackface to a Red Sox game, or voting for Barack Obama on election day in blackface. Do these sound like things you, or a rational, educated human being would do in the 21st century? No, your actions clearly indicate your support of the person in question. It’s unnecessary to emulate their skin color.
Now let’s talk about that afro, which Moss hasn’t sported since ‘06. It’s one thing to be racist, but another to be behind in fashion.
[UPDATE: From a game last season,via the GLOBE]:
Forty-five children from West Virginia were in attendance at the game, courtesy of Moss, who annually pays for children from his home state to attend an NFL game. The group sat in section 344 and they were all wearing Moss masks and sporting replicas of his unbraided Afro.
I assume that looked a little something like this:
11:05 am on October 21st, 2008
Bugs Bunny in blackface? What the hell?
11:07 am on October 21st, 2008
I believe it's "Foxborough" now.
11:09 am on October 21st, 2008
Sure, it's racist and offensive, but it's still a pretty good likeness of Moss. At least the face.
11:10 am on October 21st, 2008
The guy was probably just coming back from his audition for "The Jazz Singer" at the Foxboro Community Theater.
Sorry, "Foxborough".
11:11 am on October 21st, 2008
Ted Danson needs to work on his jheri curl.
11:16 am on October 21st, 2008
GHC:
A lot of cartoons in the '30 and '40s and even into the '50s used racist caricatures quite often, whether it's blackface or black characters drawn with big lips and voiced like "Amos & Andy", or Asian characters with slanty eyes & buck teeth saying things like "so solly!"
Whenever old cartoons are shown on TV today, they usually edit out offensive stuff like that. But if you buy DVD collections of cartoon, often they'll put the offensive stuff back in, but with a warning label on the pack or in the DVD introduction.
11:18 am on October 21st, 2008
I dunno - that kind of looks like a photoshop job to me.
11:19 am on October 21st, 2008
It's not photoshopped, but it may be a scene from the next sequel to The Ring.
11:21 am on October 21st, 2008
That's the beauty of high definition - it looks so good, it's hard to believe it's real.
But it isn't hard to believe a Boston fan would dress in blackface.
11:22 am on October 21st, 2008
They're not chanting "Manny", they're chanting "Mammy!"
11:26 am on October 21st, 2008
Blackface on election day? McCain & Palin have just hit upon their new campaign strategy.
11:28 am on October 21st, 2008
Blackface is never a good idea ANYWHERE.
11:46 am on October 21st, 2008
OK, this whole Boston fan bashing is getting tiresome. "Oh my God, they didn't show up at 3 in the morning to see the Red Sox come back! Oh my God, there's a fan in blackface!"
One idiot in stupid makeup does not represent an entire fan base. You mean to tell me fans in New York or Philly or Chicago would never stoop to such offensive actions? I've heard so many shouts of "fag!" and f-bombs dropped at games in these places that's enough to make sailors blush.
Again, this obsession with Boston fans is pure jealousy. We have the defending NBA champion Celtics. We have the two-time in four years World Series-winning Red Sox. We have the three-time Super Bowl-winning Patriots. We can help it if we have such awesome teams.
11:58 am on October 21st, 2008
Still, the fact of the matter is that a Patriots fan thought it would be a great idea to wear blackface to a game. In public view. During a nationally televised primetime game with ESPN cameras everywhere. (And fans with TiVos at home recording every second.)
Smooth move, Ace.
12:01 pm on October 21st, 2008
Yep, the Giants were certainly jealous enough - jealous enough to kick the Pats' butts and squash their perfect season!
12:05 pm on October 21st, 2008
It's the Randy Moss Mask
http://media.musictoday.com/store/bands/1182/product_medium/U1AMRM02.jpg
2:13 pm on October 21st, 2008
its a mask. NOT blackface.
this post should be taken down.
3:11 pm on October 21st, 2008
I'd expect better from SbB, and usually get it. Racism is a pretty heavy accusation to throw around, and you better be sure you have your facts straight before you post. It's a Moss Mask, sold on the player's own website for fans and reported previously on Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/sports/nfl/the-real-randy-moss-mossmask-125910.php
10:34 am on October 22nd, 2008
Now a white guy wearing a Moss mask is being racist. You people are a**holes!