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Jason Kelce Responds to Being Called 'House Negro' by Philadelphia Radio Host
January 20, 2016
Eagles center Jason Kelce responded Wednesday to a Philadelphia radio host who called him a "house negro," saying he'll "take" the characterization if it falls under his definition of what it means to be a teammate:
Kelce's comments came hours after Josh Innes of 94.1 WIP made his derogatory remarks in a conversation with co-host Hollis Thomas. Innes, who is white, started his rant by calling Kelce a "lapdog" to management before going into a soliloquy that arguably oversteps racial boundaries. He recalled watching the movie Malcolm X and drew a parallel between Kelce and the pejorative "house negro," per David Chang of NBC Philadelphia:
There was a scene where Denzel is doing the whole thing about the slave and the House Negro. The House Negro is the guy that’s gonna tell you like, oh he gets to live in the big house with the boss and every time he refers to something that happens in the house it’s ‘our house’ and ‘we’ and everything like that. And then there’s the actual slave who’s not the House Negro who’s just trying to run away. Well essentially what you’re getting here is Jason Kelce is the House Negro, is what I’m trying to convey to you. That’s essentially Jason Kelce’s job. Yes sir! Yes boss! Absolutely boss! Yes sir boss! That is Jason Kelce! Whoever the head coach is gonna be, he’s gonna be all over that head coach.
Obviously, this is a ridiculous comment that holds no merit. Innes may not have meant for his comment to take on racial undertones, but it's baffling that anyone in 2016 would try to draw a line between a professional football player and the slave state. That Innes did so amid laughter from his co-hosts instead of drawing instant criticism on the air is all the more frustrating.
Keep in mind: Innes compared a professional football player to a "house negro" simply because he attended an introductory press conference for the team's new head coach. Listening to the audio, Innes does not offer similar criticisms to other players in attendance.
“I made a bad analogy, and for that I apologize," Innes later said, per Zach Braziller of the New York Post. "Like literally I’m the dumbest human being on the planet.”
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