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Media Ignores Boxer's Gay Attack
Mary Ellen Peterson
365Gay.com Newscenter in Los Angeles

http://365gay.com/newscontent/083101boxing.htm

(August 31, New York) An interview between boxers Hasim Rahman and Lennox Lewis on ESPN Thursday turned into something resembling a WWF match when Rahman told Lewis was acting gay.

The pair were being interviewed by Gary Miller on "Up Close" part of a promotion for a November pay-per-view match in Las Vegas in which Lewis will try to regain the titles he lost to Rahman on a fifth-round knockout in South Africa.

Lewis obviously was angry by a comment Rahman made earlier on a radio show.

"Why did you say I was gay? I'm not gay," Lewis demanded.

"I said you were acting gay, taking it to the court," said Rahman, referring to Lewis filing suit to force Rahman into a rematch before he made a championship defence against anyone else.

The pair then stood up, bumped chests and Lewis shoved Rahman, and they wrestled one another to the floor, with Rahman on top before he was pulled off. They then briefly scuffled again.

The use of the word 'gay' as a slur was lost on the media covering the dustup. At no time did Rahman apologize to gays for the attack and no sports journalist covering the brawl questioned Rahman's homophobia. Coverage of the tussle appeared in the New York Times, ESPN and CNN along with other media outlets. 

Scott Seomin, the media director of GLAAD, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said, "Rahman's use of the word 'gay' and Lewis' reaction to it reveal the  homophobia that prevails in athletics. This was yet another example of how the word 'gay' has come to be used as a catch-all negative adjective meaning bad or stupid."

"I'll bet two rounds in the ring that Rahman would never have said, 'What you did was n-word of you' or 'it was Jewish slur taking it to  the court,'" Seomin said.

"Neither Rahman or Lewis would dare to use any other minority  epithets when verbally assaulting each out of respect for such minorities.  The sad part is that these men do not respect the gay community or their gay  fans," he said. 

 
The Guardian Unlimited
Heavyweights wrestle with gay semantics

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,545263,00.html

Michael Ellison in New York
Saturday September 1, 2001
The Guardian

Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman, the man he is challenging for the world heavyweight championship, abandoned boxing in favour of wrestling when they were unable to resolve a dispute over gay politics and the law.

The debate started when they were asked on a television sports show in California why there was not more animosity between them. The American took Lewis's title last April and the 35-year-old Briton went to court to force a rematch before Rahman could defend his title against anyone else.

At first neither was able to respond to the cue from Gary Miller, host of ESPN's Up Close. But then Miller asked Rahman why he had questioned the British boxer's sexuality.

"I didn't say he was gay, I said what he did by taking this thing to court was a gay move," said Rahman, demonstrating his grasp of semantics. "I don't know why he was so offended."

Lewis, who is on a tour with Rahman to promote their fight in Las Vegas in November, said: I am 100% a woman's man. If you are worried about that, bring your sister."

Rahman sprang to the defence of his family and when the two had spent a few more angry words, they went chest-to-chest. Lewis grabbed his opponent's jacket and, defying the efforts of their respective camps to come between them, the two hit the ground, flattening a table on the way.

Finally, they were separated, leaving Lewis to make one more abortive run on his man. Later, the British boxer claimed that any moral authority to be derived from the clash resided with him.

"Rock woke up the lion within me," he said. "Now I'm going to crush the Rock in the ring, regain my belt and bring some dignity back to the heavyweight crown."

Lewis's trainer, Emanuel Steward, was delighted. "People don't realise it but Lennox's background in Canada was that he was a street thug. This has brought that out in him."

While some cynics suggested this might even have been a choreographed stand-off, Rahman denied the fight was staged. "I don't play games like that," he said. "I'm anxious to get in the ring and prove I can knock him out again."

Don King, the fight's promoter, did not appear too displeased with the publicity for the pay-per-view fight.

Simon Block, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, said the scuffle had tarnished Lewis's reputation as one of the sport's role models. "I was very sorry to see what happened. It was not really very funny and it was very, very poor for boxing"

The promotional tour concludes its four-city run in London on Monday.

Hitting below the belt

Host Gary Miller asked Lewis: Did he question your sexuality?

Lewis: He said, 'Why are you starting that gay stuff?' I'm not gay. Why are you calling me gay?

Rahman: I said what he did was gay. I said it was gay to take it to the court. I don't know why he was so offended.

Lewis: I am 100% a woman's man. If you are worried about that, bring your sister.

Rahman: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. I'm gonna say this right now, if you don't want me saying anything about your mother, your father or anybody else in your family do not say anything about my family.

Lewis: Listen.

Rahman: Do not say anything about my family.

Lewis: Be careful what you say to me.

Rahman: Do not say anything about my family.

Lewis : Be careful what you say.

Rahman: Man, you ain't nobody, I'll say what I want to you!

Lewis: Go ahead, man.

Rahman: I will say what I want.

Miller: Fellas, fellas, fellas. OK, we do not want this.

Security guard: Pull away, pull away

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001
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Homophobia At Wimbledon
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

http://365gay.com/newscontent/071201wimbledon.htm

(July 12, Los Angeles)  Wimbledon Men's champion Goran Ivanisevic has called a line judge at Wimbledon a "faggot".

During a press conference after his five-set victory against Patrick Rafter he told reporters, "Then I hit another second serve, huge. And that ball was on the line, was not even close. And that guy, he looks like a faggot little bit, you know. This hair all over him. He call it. I couldn't believe he did it."

The comment, which drew scattered laughter from the reporters in attendance, has received minimal coverage in the press. Only ESPN and the "Los Angeles Times" have covered the Ivanisevic incident in any depth.

GLAAD, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has expressed outrage over the lack of coverage the sports media gave the remarks. 

"GLAAD is concerned that an athlete can casually drop a word like "faggot" in a high-profile media interview and not only is there very little media coverage of his comment, but several reporters in the room can be heard laughing at it," said GLAAD spokesperson Scott Seomin.

"If Ivanisevic had used the "n-word" to refer to a linesman, I doubt that press reaction would have been this muted. I hope the media do not have a double-standard when responding to or reporting on public expressions of bigotry," he said.

This is not the first time Ivanisevic has used such language.

At the Masters Series in Indian Wells, Calif., earlier this year, a reporter asked Ivanisevic if breaking a racket is mostly in the wrist. Ivanisevic responded: "Hey, sometimes I watch the TV, and then I see the guys when they throw the rackets. They throw it like a faggot, you know. They throw it not to throw it."

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