NFL legend, Tony Dungy (Dun-gee), has given no quarter to rabid pro-LGBTQ+ activists who tried to smear him with the usual “racist-homophobic-bigot” tripe.
The 66-year-old seasoned father of eleven was hit hard by woke warriors in April, when activists threw him into their cross-hairs, as part of the far-left’s broader harassment of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
Dungy was damned for supporting Ron De Santis’ pro-dads for kids’ legislation, which includes $70 million in support for fatherhood non-profit organisations.
Hard left, blue-tick Twitter critics swung in for the kill, accusing Dungy of being a “fraud”, “fascist political prop,” and “lunatic nutjob Christian who hates gay people.”
This isn’t the Left’s first attempt at character assassination.
Their dislike of Dungy started with comments he’d made in 2014 about the hype surrounding NFL’s “first openly gay” player, Michael Sam.
Dingy revealed in an interview at the time that, “he would have passed on drafting Sam, not because he didn’t believe Michael Sam shouldn’t have the chance to play, but [Dungy] didn’t want to deal with” the “distraction.”
Abstracted, his words were used by Leftists to make the first African-American head coach to ever win consecutive Super Bowls the woke plantation’s whipping boy.
“Distraction” was deliberately misinterpreted as “hate speech” granting the usual jackboot brigade grounds to mis-portray Dungy as “anti-gay.”
He was then labelled a “coward”, and accused of supporting “Jim Crow.”
Dungy later explained that “distraction” wasn’t a reference to Michael Sam’s sexual preference. “Distraction” was a reference to the inevitable pro-PRIDE media circus.
Through an official statement, given in response, Dungy clarified:
“I felt that drafting Sam would bring much distraction to the team. At the time of my interview, the Oprah Winfrey reality show that was going to chronicle Michael’s first season had been announced.”
He added, “The media attention that comes with [Michaels’s sexual orientation] will be a distraction. Unfortunately, we are all seeing this play out now, and I feel badly that my remarks played a role in the distraction.”
This 2014 clarification didn’t stop Dungy’s biggest dishonest critic, CNN alumni, Leftist political commentator, Keith Olbermann, from regurgitating the falsehood in the latest attempt to cancel Dungy.
Resurrecting the same misquote tactic, Olbermann offered a smug rebuke of the NFL Hall-of-Famer, saying:
“I worked with him. Tony Dungy’s reputation is not spotless, and his Michael Sam comments disqualified him from being considered an example of loving fatherhood.”
Leftist furore was also stoked by Dungy’s comments supporting DeSantis’s fatherhood initiative.
Dungy’s two-minute, non-woke, pro-fatherhood speech, acknowledged the growing absentee father problem in the United States, particularly in black homes.
Recounted by The Federalist, Dungy asserted:
“Many of you know the name, Abe Brown. He had a prison ministry. He wanted me to go with him, and I went on the first trip expecting to see grizzled, hard, tough older guys, and what I met were 19- and 20- and 21-year-old kids who looked like my boys.”
The NFL giant added:
“I remember driving home from that trip and asking Reverend Brown, ‘How do those young boys get here?’ And he told me it’s not socioeconomic. It’s not racial. It’s not education. It’s none of that. 95% percent of these boys did not grow up with their dad. And that hit me.”
This speech sent his haters into overdrive.
One Twitter user labelled the history-making African-American, a racist apologist dancing to the tune of the white oppressor.
Another “authorised” account charged Dungy with propagating “racist myths.” The account made the egregious claim that Dungy was ‘living in a fantasy land with the rest of the Trump/DeSantis fanboys.’
The owner of the account later corrected himself by linking a 2013 Politifact article, which proved Dungy’s point about fatherlessness being a bigger issue than racism.
According to PolitiFact over ‘60% of inmates said they grew up with only one parent, with grandparents, or in another arrangement.’
Standing firm against cancel culture’s intersectionalist Inquisitors, an unapologetic Dungy fired back.
In a tweet citing Barack Obama, he stated:
“2 days ago I spoke on behalf of a Florida bill that supports dads & families and it offended some people. 14 yrs ago Pres Obama said the same things almost verbatim. I’m assuming people were outraged at him too. I am serving the Lord so I’ll keep supporting dads and families.”
Why all the hate?
To quote The Fed’s Tristan Justice, in woke terms, Dungy is guilty of ‘racial wrong-think.’
He’s a dedicated father and an outspoken Christian who is well-informed enough to know that the political obsession with “racism” in the United States is blinding people to the bigger issue of fatherlessness in black American homes.
His pro-dad stance challenges the “anti-racist” industry’s profitable political narrative.
To add, Dungy isn’t an ally of Leftism, which makes him the “wrong kind of black man.” He isn’t living the life of a victim.
His actions speak volumes: Dungy repelling his would-be character assassins shows the strength of his character.
As does his rock-solid support for DeStantis’ fatherhood initiative – an initiative designed to help at-risk fathers, and fatherless children by helping fathers be all-in and present; participating when, where, and in whatever way he can.
Most notably of all, Dungy chose courage culture.
When the cancel culture lynch mob rode up to his door, instead of apologising to those draped in falsehoods, he fired back with facts.