Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett is calling for a boycott of the Seattle Times after the newspaper published a scathing opinion article calling the outspoken NFL star “immature.”
Seattle Times columnist Matt Calkins waded into the beef between the All-Pro Seahawks lineman and Blowhard Hall of Fame windbag Stephen A. Smith in a Saturday opinion article entitled: Seahawks’ Michael Bennett Does Great Things, but Why the Immaturity?”
Last week, Bennett publicly stated that he believes the Seahawks should sign Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who ignited a firestorm last season when he refused to stand for the national anthem. ESPN’s Smith—whom the network presumably hired for his incredible achievements in using big words while hollering dumb shit into a microphone—took umbrage with Bennett by pointing out how white people died for our right to vote and because All Lives Matter and some other convoluted bullshit.
Calkins’ op-ed began by praising Bennett for eloquently explaining why he refused to go to Israel because he thought the country’s prime minister used black NFL players for political gain. The article pointed out how Bennett has supported Black Lives Matter and how Bennett is one of the most charitable activists in the National Football League. But according to Caulkins, none of this matters because of that one time Bennett yelled at a reporter and how he cracks sex jokes during interviews.
Calkins sided with Smith because the veteran reporter knows that no player in the history of sports has ever derided a reporter or made an offensive joke except for (insert the name of any white athlete or coach here). But apparently when Bennett engages in these activities, it invalidates whatever good he does, because, according to Calkins, “None of this would really matter if all Bennett wanted to be was a football player. ... His aspirations are incredibly noble,” Calkins wrote. “But sometimes his behavior is incredibly childish.”
He added, “Bennett has to make a choice on who he really wants to be. He clearly knows the power of his platform, but I’m not sure he is taking full advantage of it.”
Bennett took to Twitter to voice his displeasure with the article:
The 31-year-old Bennett has been selected to the Pro Bowl as one of the league’s top pass rushers in each of the last two seasons. He donates 100 percent of his endorsement money and half of his jersey sales to funding programs for minority children in science, technology, math and engineering, or STEM, education.
Bennett faced criticism last year for calling out his fellow black NFL players to support Black Lives Matter.
Bennett’s brother Martellus Bennett played for last year’s Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and stirred controversy when he refused to visit the White House because of Donald Trump, for whom the great civil rights lecturer Stephen A. Smith, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, told black people they should show respect.