Tony Dungy faces backlash following anti-LGBTQ+ Tweet – Sports Business Journal

Dungy issued an apology amid criticism of a Tweet featuring anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric Mark Konezny/USA TODAY NETWORK

NBC Sports analyst Tony Dungy, in a since-deleted Wednesday Tweet, “ridiculed Minnesota’s efforts” of requiring menstrual products for transgender and nonbinary youths by “sharing a debunked — and wholly nonsensical — claim that some schools are providing litter boxes because students are identifying as cats,” according to Nancy Armour of USA TODAY. It was “not until Thursday night did Dungy apologize,” in a statement provided by his attorney. Dungy: “I saw a tweet yesterday and I responded to it in the wrong way. As a Christian I should speak in love and in ways that are caring and helpful. I failed to do that and I am deeply sorry.” Armour wrote Dungy is a “smart man” who “should have known right away there was no truth to that tinfoil hat litter box story.” But this is “not the first time Dungy has vilified members of the LGBTQ community.” He has “a long and very public history of it,” and it “can’t go unchecked simply because he is personable, popular and has been steadfast in holding the NFL to account for its shameful record on diversity and advocating for coaches of color” (USA TODAY, 1/19). In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel asked if Dungy was “trying to be funny with his tweet,” or “does he believe that thoroughly debunked myth?” Doyel: “People like Tony Dungy, you have a lot of power, a lot of influence. Use it compassionately” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/19).

HOLIER THAN THOU? THE NATION’s Dave Zirin wrote Dungy “has spent years as an anti-gay bigot, while the NFL and NBC barely blink.” This is a “widely debunked lie used by the far right,” one that Dungy “happily touted.” Dungy is “held up as a deeply religious man and nearly a patron saint of the league.” He has “used his devoutness as a cover for his anti-gay rhetoric and sharing platforms with unapologetic bigots.” But him “being center stage on the most watched program in the country makes NBC and the NFL complicit in his disinformation and political posturing” (THE NATION, 1/19).