Roundup: What athletes said about Donald Trump's 'locker room talk'
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's poll numbers have sunk since the release of a 2005 video showing Trump making extraordinarily lewd comments about women.
In the now-famous tape, obtained by The Washington Post and NBC News, Trump describes trying to have sex with a married woman and brags about women letting him kiss and grab them because he is famous.
“When you're a star they let you do it,” Trump says. “You can do anything.” He adds seconds later, “Grab them by the p----. You can do anything.”
Trump and his allies have defended his comments as "locker room talk." But Trump's defense—which preceded a slew of new sexual assault allegations against Trump—has been met with immense pushback, including from some athletes who reject Trump's characterization of the locker room.
Which sports figures are supporting Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump or Gary Johnson?
Take a look at how LeBron James, Richard Sherman and others have responded to Trump's use of "locker room talk." (Warning: Some tweets contain inappropriate language.)
LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers forward)
"What is locker room talk to me? It’s not what that guy said. We don’t disrespect women in no shape or fashion in our locker room. That never comes up. Obviously, I got a mother-in-law, a wife, a mom and a daughter and those conversations just don’t go on in our locker room. What that guy was saying, I don’t know what that is. That’s trash talk.”
Tom Brady (New England Patriots quarterback)
Brady ended his Wednesday press conference by thanking the media and walking out after NESN reporter Jonathan Choe asked him about Trump's "locker room talk" comment.
Watch the exchange below.
Trump has repeatedly touted his friendship with Brady on the campaign trail, and Brady once joked it “would be great” if Trump was elected president because he would put a putting green on the White House lawn. Brady later told reporters that he would like to stay out of politics.
Chris Kluwe (Former NFL punter)
Kluwe wrote an open letter to Donald Trump about "locker room talk" on Vox.com. Here's a brief excerpt:
“When asked to justify your statements, you claimed that this was "locker room talk," and it's just how guys speak about women. You're wrong, and only the type of wrong an over-tanned ham hock like yourself can accomplish, plummeting past the morass of gross incivility into the abyss of depraved sociopathy.
“How do I know this? Simple. I was in an NFL locker room for eight years, the very definition of the macho, alpha male environment you're so feebly trying to evoke to protect yourself, and not once did anyone approach your breathtaking depths of arrogant imbecility. Oh, sure, we had some dumb guys, and some guys I wouldn't want to hang out with on any sort of regular basis, but we never had anyone say anything as foul and demeaning as you did on that tape, and, hell, I played a couple years with a guy who later turned out to be a serial rapist. Even he never talked like that.” (Vox)
Colin Kaepernick disappointed in Ruth Bader Ginsburg's criticism of his protest
Udonis Haslem (Miami Heat forward)
“I don't know what locker room he's been in. No, I didn't appreciate it, to be completely honest. That's not our locker room talk. I don't know Trump very well at all, but I don't know who he's played for the last couple years to even say he's been in anybody's locker room and had those kind of conversations.” (ThePalm Beach Post)
Richard Sherman (Seattle Seahawks cornerback)
“I think it was a cop-out. I think it was a cop-out," Sherman said on Wednesday. "He needed some way to divert the attention from himself. That’s not how most people talk in the locker room, and I think a lot of athletes would say the same. But it allows him to divert the conversation away from him, which was the focus.” (710 AM Seattle)
Curt Schilling (Former Boston Red Sox pitcher)
Schilling, who might have political ambitions of his own, defended Trump saying to a group of young girls that he would be dating one of them in 10 years.
Chris Conley (Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver)
Brett Anderson (Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher)
Sean Doolittle (Oakland Athletics pitcher)
Chris Conley (Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver)
Jamal Crawford (Los Angeles Clippers guard)
Jacob Tamme (Atlanta Falcons tight end)
Doc Rivers (Los Angeles Clippers coach)
“They're bad comments. They're demeaning to women. You know, I think when people throw out that word, 'locker room talk,' there's nobody talking like that in the locker room. Is there swearing in the locker room? Yeah. Every other word. But there's nobody demeaning -- there's players in our locker room with sisters, wives and daughters. There's not that type of talk in anyone's locker room.” (ESPN.com)
Michael Bennett (Seattle Seahawks defensive end)
“As a parent of (three) daughters I felt like, I was irate,” Bennett said. “Locker-room talk? I don’t even know if that’s locker-room talk, though. That was kind of crazy to be talking about a woman like that. Women are so important. Without women none of us would be here. So you can’t disrespect women at all. That stuff that’s going on, it’s terrible.’’
He also referenced Trump's comment that he can "do anything" with women because he's a celebrity.
“I don’t think anybody goes out of their way to go out and disrespect women in that type of way or feels that because of their situation that they can disrespect women, that because you are a superstar you can get away with that,’’ Bennett said. “That’s not true. You’ve got to treat people right and treat women with respect.” (Seattle Times)
• Seahawks' Michael Bennett: This year's election is 'kind of a disgrace'
Doug Baldwin (Seattle Seahawks wide receiver)
“Have I heard things like that in the locker room? Not that aggressive. Again, locker-room talk, it can be aggressive sometimes. But I don’t think I’ve heard — ever heard — anything like that.”
Baldwin also added: “He’s not in the locker room. He’s not in a violent sport. So I don’t know if he really knows what locker-room talk is. It’s not that, I can tell you that.” (Seattle Times)
Jaelen Strong (Houston Texans wide receiver)
Donte Stallworth (former NFL wide receiver)
Kendall Marshall (NBA player)
C.M. Punk (MMA fighter)
Billy Donovan (Oklahoma City Thunder coach)
“I don't wanna comment on that just because for me, I think a lot of those things are very unfortunate, the things that we're discussing and talking about from both parties,” Donovan said. “For women, for what went on there. But I'm not gonna pass judgment on what goes on in our locker room or what goes on in any other locker room. I think every person's got to be accountable for themselves. Certainly, it's disappointing when you hear things like that, but for me, as a coach, I think what goes on in our guys' locker room, that's their private place. I haven't heard anything like that from our guys, and again, I'm not in there all the time, but I think that I would be foolish to try to jump in and start giving my thoughts and opinion of what's appropriate or not appropriate inside of the locker room. And like I said, I think everybody's got to be accountable for what they say or what they do, and that's really all I could say on that.” (Norman Transcript)
