Washington Redskins players Clinton Portis and Chris Samuels defended Michael Vick on Monday by ridiculing the notion that dog fighting is considered a crime.
[…]
“I don’t know if he was fighting dogs or not,” Portis said. “But it’s his property; it’s his dogs. If that’s what he wants to do, do it.”
[…]
Hours after making light of the possible crime in the television interview, Portis issued a statement late Monday through the Redskins.
“In the recent interview I gave concerning dog fighting, I want to make it clear I do not take part in dog fighting or condone dog fighting in any manner,” the statement said.
—“Supporting Vick: Skins Portis, Samuels ridicule dog fighting as crime,” AP, SportsIllustrated.com
Aside from the utterly loathsome and contemptible animal abuse, for which these miserable bastards deserve to truly suffer, allow me to paraphrase the aspect of this story that bothers me the most:
“Except for that part where I explicitly condoned dog fighting, I do not condone dog fighting.”
He DID condone dog fighting. That’s EXACTLY what he did! He’s NOT ALLOWED to say he doesn’t. He does! He did! We all saw it happen!
The degree to which celebrities feel entitled to rewrite history to suit whatever their current preferred narrative happens to be is very, very disturbing. (To say nothing of politicians; at this point, though, I think celebrities-in-trouble are more boldfaced about it while the politicians are still at least slightly subtle.) You don’t need to look any further than the behavior of, say, the idiots on The Real World every season to see the extent to which people believe they can do any number of horrible, amoral, immoral things, then convince themselves it’s okay simply by saying so. It’s not. And this stupid punk is not entitled to say he didn’t do something he absolutely, unequivocally did.
Just when I thought I’d seen all the embarassment anyone could possibly see in all my years as a Falcons fan…but this whole episode promises to reach new lows.
I can imagine. Seriously, that article contains something new to be enraged at with each new sentence. The very existence of an object called a “prybar” makes me feel like I am losing my mind.