Mark Madden: Situations with Brett Favre, Jared Porter shows cancellation culture is unevenly applied



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Jared Porter was fired from his role as general manager of the New York Mets because he sent a torrent of inappropriate texts to a reporter while working for the Chicago Cubs in 2016. Among Porter’s texts: An image of his genitals, as reported by ESPN.

Setting Porter on fire was the right choice, and the only choice.

Should Porter be working in baseball again? It’s a different debate.

But it is beyond the debate that the culture of cancellation is applied unevenly. Who you are can replace what you do. A famous example of this happened in 2008.

Brett Favre, then New York Jets quarterback, reportedly sent Jenn Sterger explicit texts and an obscene photo. Favre admitted to leaving solicited voicemails. Sterger worked for the Jets as a television host.

The story erupted in 2010. The NFL investigated, fining Favre $ 50,000 for failing to cooperate with the investigation, but concluding that Favre could not be proven to have violated Favre’s personal conduct policy. the league.

Perhaps it is because Favre did not cooperate with the investigation. Or maybe it was because the NFL didn’t want to prove it.

The incident did not damage Favre’s career or reputation at all. Favre ended his career in Minnesota in 2010. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Few of the athletes got more mentions. Favre has been an influencer for Nike, Snapper, Remington, Sears, Prilosec, Sensodyne, MasterCard, Wrangler and Hyundai.

Favre’s career and bank account haven’t suffered one iota because of what happened in 2008.

Sterger did.

Once one of sports broadcast’s top prospects, Sterger currently works for All Elite Wrestling as a behind-the-scenes interviewer. His show on Versus (now the NBC Sports Network) was canceled shortly after Favre’s story broke. Sterger has done interviews to talk about the “second chance”.

Sterger shouldn’t have to ask for a second chance. She is the victim. She didn’t do anything wrong. Favre did. But Sterger will be known in perpetuity as “the daughter of Brett Favre”.

If Sterger had slept with Favre, where is his career?

We want women to tell stories like this. But if Sterger hadn’t, where is his career?

What happened to Sterger (especially compared to what didn’t happen to Favre) is one of the greatest injustices ever committed by sports media. But few think of the incident in these terms.

It’s because no one wants to tarnish the legend of Favre. If Sterger’s career and reputation is damaged in the process, so be it. There is no distress in terminating Porter’s employment.

Favre’s sores (media and others) will point to the results of the NFL investigation. In that investigation, Favre confessed to leaving the voicemail messages. (It’s hard to deny that.) So we have to believe that Favre was responsible for the voicemail messages, but not the obscene texts and photos. It’s more than a little hard to buy.

Stir in that Favre has never approached Sterger in person – hasn’t even met her once – and the creep level climbs dramatically. Favre wanted Sterger to indulge himself like a pizza.

Sterger’s career has taken a nosedive. She is “Brett Favre’s daughter”. She is still abused on social networks. Originally, she told her story unofficially but was betrayed by Deadspin’s AJ Daulerio, further proving that Deadspin and journalism are separated parents at best.

It’s a stinky sandwich, and Favre never had to eat. But Sterger must have chewed too much.

The Mets got it right with Porter. Everyone was wrong with Favre.

Categories:
Mark Madden Columns | MLB | Sports

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