Tiger Woods is one of the most famous athletes in the world. He has been named by the ‘Associated Press’ as “Athlete of the Decade”. He is an amazing golfer. That is all we know of him. However the media, and his brand has made him out to be the quintessential golfer, and perfect man. As he is a person of color, he has broken many boundaries in the golfing world, and because of his spotless background and major abilities, the elite media has accepted him as somewhat of a golfing hero.
However, unfortunately he cheats on his wife. Not with one woman, but with many women. As the stories came out he was talked about with the highest regard by almost every sports analyst out, however now he is being talked about using words such as disgraceful and disgusting, and major corporations have pulled his sponsorships. However my real question is, Is he getting all this backlash because people think what he did was actually wrong? Or does his race play an important role in the ease to drop him like a bad habit?
In the article by Ellis Cashmore called Celebrity/Culture he says, “Whites would be willing to join with them (black people) in the façade that they had all transcended race, as long as Whoopi, Morgan, O.J. and other did not threaten their status and as long as they continued to make them feel good.” In this Tiger Woods case, I think the elite has opened their doors for Tiger because they think his talent is good enough to transcend his race, but I think in light of this scandal they have shut the door harder because of his race, and maybe even because of the race of all the women he has cheated on his white with. Tiger threatened status because of his talent, his appeal, and his hugely successful endorsements, and this was the perfect way to knock him down, and make sure he was not a threat any longer.
No comments:
Post a Comment