Update, 1:35 pm: Rishard Matthews hit up his Twitter Wednesday afternoon to backtrack on his original thoughts and feelings on Caitlyn Jenner, saying he was only trying to express his admiration for Noah Galloway and other veterans (for the record, Galloway was never actually considered a runner up for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award):
Just to clear something up. I meant no disrespect to Caitlyn Jenner…
I just feel very strongly about the courage showed by Noah Galloway
— Rishard Matthews (@_RMatthews) June 3, 2015and fellow veterans who sacrifice so much to protect our country.
— Rishard Matthews (@_RMatthews) June 3, 2015Original story: When Caitlyn Jenner (formerly known as Bruce Jenner) made her public debut in a series of Annie Leibovitz photos and the cover of Vanity Fair, folks from all walks of life showed support via Twitter with a #CallMeCaitlyn hashtag. Jenner also became the fastest person to get over a million Twitter followers, breaking the previous record held by Barack Obama weeks ago.
But not everyone is excited over all this attention Jenner has been getting. And one of those people includes Miami Dolphins wide receiver Rishard Matthews.
Late Tuesday, Matthews took to his Twitter to deride ESPN's decision to award Jenner with its Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2015 ESPYS in July. In the guise of thinking the award should go to, say, a veteran, Matthews rhetorically asked if there was someone else more deserving of the award, saying it "pisses me off" that the ESPY would go to Jenner.
Finally, Matthews backtracked a tad, saying that he wasn't arguing Jenner wasn't courageous but doubling down in saying, in all caps, that there must be someone out there more deserving.
While it's noble for Matthews to bring attention to someone like Galloway and correctly point out that the Iraq veteran is a hero, the real issue here might be in the way that message was presented. When saying that it "pisses" him off and that the choice of Jenner getting the award is somehow an indictment of the "world we're living in," it's not a good look.
And this isn't the first time a Miami Dolphin has tweeted out disparaging comments about the LGBT community. Last year, safety Don Jones tweeted out disapproval over Michael Sam — the NFL's first openly gay player — being shown on ESPN kissing his boyfriend as they celebrated his being drafted. The Dolphins quickly suspended Jones from football activities and expressed their regret over his tweet about a gay man.
No word yet on if Matthews will be getting any kind of punishment or a talking to over his tweets about a transgender.
