Female Sports Host Has Scathing Message for Those Offended by NFL Commentator's 'Sexist' Remark
Amid an ocean of commentary condemning NFL commentator Troy Aikman for a remark during a Monday-night game, one female voice wishes the critics would get a life.
On Oct. 10, Aikman took a dim view of a roughing the passer call against Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones after he sacked Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
The call came after a debated roughing-the-passer call favoring Tom Brady that Sunday, which some thought was linked to the concussion suffered by Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa when he was sacked earlier this season.
After the Monday night penalty, Aikman told ESPN viewers: “My hope is that the competition committee looks at this in the next set of meetings, and, you know, we take the dresses off,” according to Sports Illustrated.
Twitter erupted in politically correct scoldings.
Troy Aikman’s dress comment on MNF was transphobic and cringe worthy. Do better.
— Josh Schmitz (@chivalryundead) October 11, 2022
Troy Aikman really needs to find a non-misogynistic way to critique the call besides “take the dresses off”.
And I say this as someone who heard this misogyny normalized by coaches as a kid & even participated myself. Way past time to end such sports talkpic.twitter.com/lHVhv6WdEv
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) October 11, 2022
Meghan Ottolini, a co-host on “Merloni, Fauria & Mego” on Boston’s WEEI-FM, offered a counterpoint.
In a clip of the show posted to Twitter, she interpreted the comment to mean “stop playing like a bunch of girls.”
One of her co-hosts asked whether she was offended and whether Aikamn should apologize.
Outraged by Troy Aikman’s “take the dresses off” comment on Monday Night Football?
Not @Meghan_Ottolini
“If this infuriates you, then I’m jealous that you have so much energy to dedicate to being mad at Troy Aikman.” pic.twitter.com/8ccx4rdSae
— Merloni, Fauria, & Mego (@MFMonWEEI) October 12, 2022
“Hell no to both! I’m not offended at all,” she said, before stumbling over a few words and then adding, “Honestly, who cares?”
“I don’t care. If you’re offended by that, it’s like when somebody asks me if you can say like, ‘Let’s go guys’ to your team of girls soccer players. It’s like, yeah, honestly, why are you wasting your time on this?”
Ottolini said it must be nice to have free time for outrage.
“If this infuriates you, I’m jealous that you have so much energy to dedicate to being mad at Troy Aikman,” she said. “It’s like, why are you watching this anyway?”
In a separate clip posted to Twitter, she said anger should be saved for “the important stuff.”
MFM: Troy Aikman wants the NFL to “take the dresses off” https://t.co/nmXD3OciZR
— WEEI (@WEEI) October 11, 2022
“If you want to get mad about like, legal rights or whatever, we can go down that road. If you want to tell guys on the field to take their dresses off, like, I don’t even give it a second of thought,” she said
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