A Sick Twist: Making Steve McNair's Murder a Lesson

It’s nice to think that everyone is broken up over Steve McNair’s murder. That’s the human thing to be, after all. But sadly, you’d be as wrong as a geek pushing Transformers 2 for Academy Award consideration.

Even before the details of McNair’s death fully trickled out—shot to death while sleeping on the couch by his 20 year old mistress in a murder-suicide—some who saw a “lesson” in this almost started to gloat. Maybe you even heard this line of argument from a woman you know.

If not, Holly Robinson Peete—the wife of former journeyman NFL quarterback Rodney Peete—supplied it on Twitter.

"Will the Steve McNair tragedy scare married men straight like the '87 film
Fatal Attraction did for a while?" Robinson Peete wrote.

And then to make sure everyone gets the point, she later tweeted, "i told hubby if i get a call some 20 yr old waitress he was doin offed him - me n kids boycotting funeral - not EVEN joking."

I’m sure that McNair’s wife Mechelle—and his four kids—appreciated Robinson Peete’s callous analysis of her husband’s murder before he’d even been put in the grave.

Robinson Peete later apologized after her tweets were outed by the sports site Deadspin, which is like A-Rod remembering about his wacky cousin injecting him with steroids after his test results leaked out. 

Robinson Peete is only the most public example of trying to twist McNair’s murder into some twisted morality tale, though. Message boards are full of the same from anonymous brainchilds: “If all men thought they were gonna die as a result of an affair, there would be no cheaters,” HQ wrote on Yahoo! Answers.

This is celebrity death in America now.

It’s not really about who died or why. Instead, each passing is simply a chance for people to advance their own agenda. In Steve McNair’s case that means implying he deserved to die because he turned out to be a fake creep of a husband. In Michael Jackson’s, it’s selling tons of stuff as souvenirs.

That shameless ghoulish money grab seems lifted straight from sports. The only surprise is that Steiner Sports isn’t touting authentic Michael Jackson one-hand gloves with commemorative sequins.

Rest in peace? That’s so out of date.

Robinson Peete doesn’t even realize that Steve McNair’s death isn’t a movie.

And the sad thing is, she has plenty of company.

Forget about Steve McNair being remembered as a tough NFL quarterback who brought the Tennessee Titans within a yard of a Super Bowl overtime. If the lesson police get their way, he won't even be remembered as a man. Just a symbol that some sick people seem to have been waiting for - to hold over their own man.