One of the things athletes don’t like about media is that they say things about athletes that have nothing to do with the sport they’re playing. It happens year after year and it hurts the relationship between the media and athletes.
One of the recent examples came from former NFL safety Ryan Clark who when talking about Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said he looked like a stripper. Saying he wasn’t in the gym and saying he’s thick and built like a girl working at Onyx strip club.
This level of hate from Ryan Clark is unbelievable…
Tua does nothing but keep his head down and work his tail off the ENTIRE off season to get his body right.
How dare @espn for the constant hate y’all don’t even hide it anymore pic.twitter.com/w5I6OwZJH4
— JoeRobbie (@JoeRobbie_) August 22, 2023
That didn’t sit well with Tua who responded by telling Clark to keep his hame out of his mouth because it wasn’t cool. He also said that he comes from a background where respect is everything.
Tua to Ryan Clark: "It's a little weird."
"I come from Samoan family. Respect is everything"
“We are tough-minded people but if we need to get scrappy, we can get scrappy.”
“I would appreciate it if you kept my name out your mouth”
(via @AdamHBeasley)pic.twitter.com/tKHlNW3Fsg
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) August 23, 2023
After taking a lot of criticism for his comments, Clark did something a lot of media members don’t do. He took accountability and said he was wrong in his apology to Tua. Saying he never intended to question Tua’s work ethic and said that when he got into this business that one of his main priorities was to respect all NFL players and earn and keep their respect. He failed to do that with his comments and issues a very sincere apology.
When I decided to do TV I had 2 main priorities.
1. Respect all NFL players, coaches, executives and staff members.
2. Earn and keep the respect of those very same people.
Those priorities are important to me, and when I miss that mark, I have to hold myself accountable.… pic.twitter.com/YgZfcNPN8G
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) August 24, 2023
Have to give credit to Ryan Clark here because he realized he was wrong and did what was necessary to fix that wrong.
