Monday Night Football commentator and NFL Hall of Famer Troy Aikman was the center of woke backlash due to a comment he made during the Las Vegas Raiders vs Kansas City Chiefs game.
Troy Aikman and Joe Buck Calling Monday Night Football via ESPN
The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 30-29 on Monday night to improve to 4-1 on the season but the story afterwards wasn’t about the game.
During the game, Aikman responded to a terrible roughing the passer call on Kansas City’s Chris Jones. Aikman’s comment was about a strip sack by Kansas City’s Chris Jones on Raiders QB Derek Carr that was called roughing the passer. Aikman responded live by telling the NFL it was time to “take the dresses off” and let the players play.
Troy Aikman wants the NFL to “take the dresses off” and fix roughing the passer penalty pic.twitter.com/YY4MicVKvU
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 11, 2022
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The comment on the broadcast lead to an army of blue checkmarks on Twitter slamming the 55 year old former quarterback as a misogynist.
Rachel Schallom Lobdell of Fortune Magazine slammed Aikman’s comments as sexist writing, “A truly awful call, but let’s not overlook Troy Aikman’s sexist comment: “My hope is the competition committee looks at this in the next set of meetings, and we take the dresses off.”
Rachel Schallom Lobdell Twitter
Chuck Modi of Deadspin piled on Aikman tweeting, “Troy Aikman really needs to find a non-misogynistic way to critique the call besides ‘take the dresses off’.”
He added, “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 talk.”
Chuck Modi Twitter
Jason Page, host of “The Cash-In,” also took offense to Aikman’s remarks.
He wrote, “Did Troy Aikman really just say what I think he said? Did he really just say that it’s time for the league to’take the dresses off’? The 60’s called, they want their chauvinist back. Seriously ESPN… do better than that crap.”
Jason Page Twitter
Yahoo! Sports writer Ryan Young also described Aikman’s comments as a sexist trope which was “offensive, cringy and lazy.”
He wrote, “Aikman using a sexist trope to make a point was offensive, cringy and lazy. The Hall of Famer, after more than two decades in the broadcast booth, should know better by now.”
Troy Aikman via ESPN YouTube
USA Today columnist Rex Huppke attempted to satirize Aikman’s comments suggesting players play fully nude. He wrote, “Longtime concussion recipient Troy Aikman has decided the National Football League is doing too much to stop players from brain-damaging each other.”
He added, “While many labeled the legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback’s comment sexist, I think Aikman might be on to something that could better protect all NFL players. I’m referring, of course, to playing the game of football wearing helmets, and nothing else.”
On Twitter he added, “Did I take Troy Aikman’s comment that the NFL ‘should take off the dresses’ when it comes to roughing-the-passer penalties and write a column proposing that all NFL players play in the nude? Yes, yes I did. Does that column include the word “jiggly.” Again, yes. Regrets? None.”
Rex Huppke Twitter
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Instead of ignoring the backlash on Twitter, Aikman referred to his comments as “dumb” during an appearance on 96.7 The Ticket radio show as reported by the The Dallas Morning News.
“My comments were dumb, just shouldn’t have made them,” Aikman told the radio hosts. “Just dumb remarks on my part.”
Troy Aikman on the Dan Patrick Show
He would go on to defend himself from criticism that his remarks meant he didn’t want quarterbacks to be protected saying, “But the other part of … what came from that, what I said was that it implied that I’m not in favor of protecting the quarterbacks, which could not be further from the truth. I’m totally in favor of the protection that the quarterbacks are afforded, and all players for that matter. But there’s no question there has been over-enforcement of the protection for quarterbacks.”
He did go on to applaud the officials saying, “I think the officials by and large do a terrific job. It’s amazing to me, in real time, how accurate most of the time they are. … It’s a thankless job that they’re in, and I don’t fault the officials so much. I do think we’re, as I said, I think we’re over-officiating it. But these are the rules. I mean, as the rule reads and if you watch that in real time, it would be hard to look at that play with Chris Jones in our game and not feel like he landed on the quarterback with his body weight, you know?”
“I would imagine that there’s been enough outcry about it that I would think that the powers that be will take a hard look at it this offseason, and see if maybe they can correct it,” Aikman added.
Troy Aikman and Joe Buck Calling Monday Night Football Via ESPN
Aikman and Joe Buck will be back in the “Monday Night Football” booth when the Denver Broncos go on the road to face the Los Angeles Chargers.
What are your thoughts on the Monday Night Football controversy?
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