In an interview with Time Magazine published Wednesday, Richard Sherman, the NFL’s highest paid corner, blasted the league for being more concerned with the "bottom line” than racial bias, arguing that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would not have banned an owner for racist comments. As evidence of the NFL's misplaced priorities, Sherman cited the league's defense of the Redskins name.
When Time asked Sherman if he thought Goodell would respond in a similar manner to his NBA counterpart if faced with allegations of racism toward a team owner, Sherman said, “No, I don’t.”
Because we have an NFL team called the Redskins. I don't think the NFL really is as concerned as they show. The NFL is more of a bottom-line league. If it doesn't affect their bottom line, they're not as concerned.
Referencing his own treatment after making “thuggish” remarks following Seattle’s playoff victory over San Francisco, arguing that he was not at all surprised by the racist comments of the lifetime-banned Clippers owner:
I wasn’t really shocked or anything. Because of what I saw after the incident after the NFC championship game. You’ve got a lot of racial backlash, and a lot of racist comments that were uncalled for – I can never see a time where racism is called for. So it didn’t shock me as much as it would have had I not experienced that personally, had I not seen those things.
Because it showed me that America still had some progress to make. On equality, and understanding that it doesn’t matter what color you are, you treat people as people. And whether a good person or a bad person, you don’t judge them off the color of their skin. You can know a person is a good person or a bad person by who they are, not by what they look like. In that situation, it just seems like a lot of people gave him a lot of flack, well deserved, but you know – I feel like a lot more people were surprised then they should have been.
Sherman then argued that his controversial comments in January, in which he alleged that racism was at the heart of fans' criticism of his post-game rant, had "forced" America to talk about the "uncomfortable" truth that "racism is still alive and still active":
That’s why a lot of people shy away from the conversation that I forced on us in January. People want to it to be done, they want that uncomfortable truth to be over with, they want the racism to be done, they want to believe everything is great and hunky-dory. And it’s not. There’s a lot of racism still alive and still active. And it just forced America to rethink it once again. And to really, really understand that racism isn’t gone. We have to actively push it out. And snuff it out.
Sherman’s comparison of the two commissioners does not address the very real financial incentives the NBA’s Silver had to rule with the speed and decisiveness in which he did. The league faced not only massive outrage from fans, but players threatening to boycott playoff games had he not removed Sterling.
Speaking of the “bottom line,” Sherman recently signed a contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks for $57.4 million over the next four years ($40 million guaranteed), making him the highest paid player at his position in the history of the league.
