Shaq Thompson's interview cut off by Panther PR

[propagandamachine]

What police brutality lol : I'm KENYAN and the reality is police using force when no one is watching is everywhere. And trust me you don't want to deal with kenyan police. There's no police brutality in America : just some misguided souls in a system that unfortunately severely punishes those who try to unseat it's power. It's profitable as fug learning to live together - how many Muslim people in the U.S. Are busy with guns in the air screaming like mad men : zero why there's too much opportunity in this country. So when a cop decides to squeeze a couple shooting range style - his mugshot will be all him ALONE

[Kevin Greene]

​yep. if shaq thompson was asked about supporting the troops, he'd have not been cut off and no one would've considered it political. again, institutions regulate and maintain the status quo. it's not that they don't want politics involved in sport, they don't want inconvenient politics involved in sport. nature of the beast.

​Be interesting to see what the Panthers do with Shaq from here on out.

After the Mante Teo phantom GF thing when he was a rookie for the Chargers he was a black hole as far as the media was concerned.

[PhillyB]

​Be interesting to see what the Panthers do with Shaq from here on out.

After the Mante Teo phantom GF thing when he was a rookie for the Chargers he was a black hole as far as the media was concerned.

​i doubt it'll be mentioned, since he never got the chance to say anything. if he'd gone on a monologue about police brutality i'm sure it would've hit the fan, but as of now there's nothing to sweep under the rug.

[Kevin Greene]

​i doubt it'll be mentioned, since he never got the chance to say anything. if he'd gone on a monologue about police brutality i'm sure it would've hit the fan, but as of now there's nothing to sweep under the rug.

Then Zod oughta have no trouble getting him  on a Podcast. ;-)

[Ja Rhule]

Good.  Panthers PR guy did his job.  It was not a football related question.

 

[Khyber53]

Nothing good could have come from his answer and I believe the journalist knew that when asking the question. It could have made for some pretty good headlines.

Even if Shaq has an incredibly well-reasoned and unbiased answer to the question, he'd be walking into a minefield. Any misstep there could leave him with a label throughout his career and possibly create friction between him and his teammates or fans of the team.

A 21 or 22 year old kid isn't who you want to be answering a potentially loaded question like that unless you are hunting for a headline. The PR man did Shaq and the team a favor. Let him stick to just football questions right now, let him develop some PR savvy before he delves into the most contentious topics of the day.

[ctrcat]

Good.  Panthers PR guy did his job.  It was not a football related question.

 

Agree, and not just that, but many people, myself included, completed school work at the university level that was nothing but liberal BS that was either pointless or that we may not have even agreed with.  It's a check mark/box that in many cases simply must be marked off in life.  He's young and went to school in the extremely liberal Pacific NW.  He's now a PANTHER and that and that alone is what matters.

[csx]

Good.  Panthers PR guy did his job.  It was not a football related question.

 

Neither are many questions asked and topics covered in interviews.  If he was discussing helping children with cancer nobody would say things like this.

[Kuhndog94]

Neither are many questions asked and topics covered in interviews.  If he was discussing helping children with cancer nobody would say things like this.

I fail to see where children with cancer can me compared to a controversial issue such as "police brutality." 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

[Mother Grabber]

the motivation of the journalist is the main question. I agree that a role model in the community can make very strong statements to help culture change, but I'll bet this was an attempt to get a juicy quote to create controversy. for that reason, I'll side with PR on this one. probably best to shut it down before something goes viral out of context.

[csx]

I fail to see where children with cancer can me compared to a controversial issue such as "police brutality." 

You're comparing apples to oranges.

It can't be. The comment was that since it isn't football he shouldn't talk about it.

 

I get the issue here and can sort of agree. I also see what Philly was saying as well.

[Davidson Deac II]

These types of issues are discussed ad nauseam on national and local political shows, and on forums and message boards everywhere (including the tinderbox).  Sports discussions should stick to sports, although I don't mind if they throw in a little community outreach discussion now and then.

[ncmonzta]

Evidently Shaq Thompson focused on ethnic identity and issues at Washington, and one of his senior-year essays was on police brutality. David Newton reports that after the final OTA session yesterday, a reporter asked him follow-up questions about police brutality issues in society today, and the Panthers PR guys jumped in and cut off the interview.

It's only a small blurb on ESPN:

 

 

It seems pretty obvious that a high-profile organization would be hesitant to allow a new employee to speak on their behalf about an explosive social issue, especially with the way social media makes these things instantaneously known, so I can't blame them for enforcing an overarching policy that probably exists for any sensitive questions not directly related to football topics.

That said, it's disappointing that in any forum, not addressing the problem at all is preferable to possibly causing a kerfuffle by addressing it. This is the beguiling power of institutions, after all; they are sources of power that maintain the status quo. Their power is cultural as well as legal, and as a controlling mechanism, it's perpetuated when other organizations or individuals refuse to address what exactly it is they're controlling. Fear of backlash is just another tool in the pocket of institutions that don't want to change.

 

On a more directly football-related note, Shaq was roundly named in the top 3 safeties in the nation by draft organizations (as well as by his performances in college) and I can't help but hope we give him snaps at strong safety in camp. We're fairly deep at OLB and there's nothing more I'd love to see than our number one pick be able to come in and replace Roman Harper's production at the position. We'd be set for a decade.

​The last part is the only thing that really matters

[Jeremy Igo]

I'd like to add that after practices collectively all reporters have about 4 minutes of the player's time to speak to any particular player. Shaq had about 10 reporters around him waiting to ask questions. 

Do you think that is the right time to ask a non football related question that would require at least a 30 minute discussion to come out with any actual content worth writing about? No, me neither. 

Reporter probably should have gotten with Shaq's agent and tried to iron out a phone interview. Panthers PR job is to try to accommodate all reporters as best they can while still keeping the players on the day's schedule. 

Seriously, this is much ado about nothing.