Newsmax host Greg Kelly came to the defense of Jon Gruden by invoking two movies, Mick Jagger’s lips, and the TV show Queer Eye — in addition to declaring that “white men are under attack.”
Gruden resigned as Raiders coach Monday night after the revelation he sent out emails with racist, homophobic, and misogynist language. One email purportedly shows Gruden referring to Roger Goodell as a “faggot.”
Kelly said when Gruden was growing up, “the culture was different” and “the F word that rhymes with maggot was in wide use and circulation and it didn’t get you cancelled.”
He proceeded to cite a use of the term in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and brought up a review of it at the time, while the chyron blared “THE NEW YORK TIMES LOVED SPICOLI.”
Yes, really.
Kelly also invoked a use of the term in the movie Horrible Bosses, and once again he read a review of the movie. This time, the chyron read “‘HORRIBLE BOSSES’ WAS A HUGE HIT!
The Newsmax host did say the word is offensive, and that he learned more about why it’s offensive because of a scene in Louis C.K.’s FX show.
Kelly then moved on to the email where Gruden invoked a racist trope to mock NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith. He said, “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires.”
Kelly said the email was “not nice,” but defended Gruden from the charge of racism by citing, in part, how Mick Jagger has big lips and Eddie Murphy made fun of them.
Kelly lamented that “we’re getting all kinds of confusing signals” about what’s
“It’s not nearly as funny as it used to be,” Kelly muttered as the chyron said “NEW ‘QUEER EYE’ IS NOTHING LIKE THE OLD ‘QUEER EYE.'”
He brought up the show because one of the many emails Gruden came under fire for included him saying Goodell shouldn’t have pressured the Rams to draft “queers,” in reference to gay player Michael Sam.
Kelly tried to argue that Gruden’s derogatory comment being lambasted as homophobic while the Netflix series is celebrated means people are getting “conflicting signals.”
Towards the end of the segment, he also declared that “white men are under attack.”
(And yes, all of the above chyrons are real and they were all featured in a segment about Jon Gruden.)
You can watch above, via Newsmax.