The Escobar Situation

Toronto Blue Jay, Yunel Escobar, made a boo-boo.
Right at start-off season, the baseball player wrote "TU ERE MARICON" under his eyes, meaning "You're a faggot" back on the 15th of September during a game against the Red Sox.
He has defended and not defended his actions... at the same damn time.




He claims that it was a language misunderstanding and that among the Spanish community, the word "faggot" doesn't have the same meaning as it does in the english language.
He also claims that several of his friends and employed staff are gay and they apparently haven't felt offended by it. I doubt that. Escobar, however, agrees with his suspension and the monetary compensation of his suspension contributed toward an anti-homphobia organization.

The fact of the matter is, hate knows no specific language. Escobar deliberately wrote those specific words as an action of offensive nature, not endearment.

I believe that his monetary contribution doesn't actually deal with the root of the problem--- that homophobia is taken very lightly in this situation. Yes, he was suspended and needs to donate his portion to the organization and yes he was subject to a press conference made public. However, does this change his thoughts on how offensive his actions were? He agrees with the actions against him but his blame on language misunderstanding is all too common.
We always see public figures that were caught in some derogatory language or action issues claim the same argument--- "I didn't mean to offend so and so", "I love black people", "I have no problem with gay people... My ___ is gay". It's the same formula to dealing with public outrage.

Many of the responses on Twitter against Escobar after the press conference was a little disturbing. One Twitter user tweeted, "It means wimpy and not macho, nothing to do with gays".
Actually my dear, it does.

Gay men are seen by straight men as deviants of hegemonic masculinity. They're seen as less of man. You don't cry when you're hurt, you don't watch "chick flicks" and you don't hug another man with both arms. Those are the apparent rules. The word FAGGOT itself may not have been the direct translation, but it sure has the same meaning when we discuss masculinity.

Stop feeding these so-called public figures these excuses. If you want to get all technical, read about the implications of the homophobic society we live in first.

If you really thought about it, you wouldn't argue against this.