Larry Johnson has issued the clearest statement yet that he doesn’t regret using the word faggot, and that his apologies were truly hollow: He is appealing his one-game suspension. Agent Peter Schaffer told Pro Football Talk:
We will be filing an appeal tomorrow. It is our belief that the action did not warrant the discipline unilaterally imposed by the Chiefs. We'll be asking for an expeditied hearing, and hopefully we can work out a positive, mutual resolution with the Chiefs. If not, we'll defer to the arbitrator's decision. Larry's desire is to get back to his teammates as soon as he can.
Larry Johnson has issued the clearest statement yet that he doesn’t regret using the word faggot, and that his apologies were truly hollow: He is appealing his one-game suspension. Agent Peter Schaffer told Pro Football Talk:
We will be filing an appeal tomorrow. It is our belief that the action did not warrant the discipline unilaterally imposed by the Chiefs. We'll be asking for an expeditied hearing, and hopefully we can work out a positive, mutual resolution with the Chiefs. If not, we'll defer to the arbitrator's decision. Larry's desire is to get back to his teammates as soon as he can.
Let’s see. Johnson calls people in the press “faggots.” He then lashes out using more anti-gay language on Twitter. What guys like Johnson and Schaffer fail to see is that gay people make up a significant portion of the Chiefs’ and the NFL’s fanbase…and the fool just pissed them all off. If the Chiefs feel a one-game suspension for alienating some of their fans is a legitimate response, how can Johnson and his agent possibly argue? Because they’re not at all sorry.
One person who is sorry is Johnson's Dad. He likens his son's language to the racism he has faced in his life. From the Kansas City Star:
His voice comes through soft but pointed. He remembers his childhood in the Jim Crow South and understands the daggers of inequality and the tarnish of discrimination.
"I went through that," he said. "My generation."
Larry Johnson Sr. said that he vowed so many years ago that he would teach his children to treat everyone with compassion. He said he raised them to consider everyone equal, regardless of race, gender, beliefs or sexual orientation. He said it hurts that his son, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson, used gay slurs in public two times in 24 hours.
"That's just not who we are and not what we believe," said the elder Johnson, 56. "It's not how he was raised.
