"Entertainer and icon" tweet. Did Peter King kind of misrepresent Cam Newton?

Nothing wrong with the tweet. Nothing. The 'context' doesn't change the statement, regardless of whether he's talking about endorsements or world peace. It's Earl Woods saying Tiger would be Gandhi; the conditions surrounding the interview don't change the message.

But interesting that the handlers would object to the idea of Newton portrayed as an entertainer and an icon, no doubt that's exactly why Under Armour signed him.

To those who thought King blew it: How would you have written it?

 

Not sure why the personal attack is necessary, but why don't you just have your boy at Deadspin write it all up as Peter King being racist.

Jesus. As Ragu said, the guy was on a damn marketing call before supposedly the biggest workout of his life, and it is somehow disingenuous to tell people he is interested in marketing himself.

 

@SIPeter_King Cam Newton in an interview with me: "I want to be an entertainer and an icon."

@SIPeter_King To be fair, Newton's question was in response to me asking what he hopes his Under Armour deal with do for him off the field.

@SIPeter_King That said, probably a dumb thing for the kid to say on the eve of the combine. GMs hear that in any context and they're scared away from a kid with lots of red flags already.

@SIPeter_King Did anyone see Natalie Portman at the Oscars? It's a shame she didn't wait to get married before getting knocked up. Kids these days. Sends the wrong message.

@SIPeter_King I just stole half of Chris Moretenson's hoagie when he wasn't looking.

 

King didn't do a very good job with the quote, when he first put it out there.

While it may not have been super deliberate, I suspect King knew that by throwing that quote out there it would get a ton of play.

Putting the quote into context takes away some of its fire.

King tweet revised
in 15 min Q&A arranged by UnderArmour Cam Newton who has $1m endorsement deal said company has plans to market him beyond football ...
Newton said he now sees himself as an "entertainer & icon" before he's had combine workout. GMs might wonder where his head is at b4 big day

 

I'd love to see the Under Armour press release from when they signed Newton. I wouldn't be surprised to see the exact terms in that release.

It's no big deal if Under Armour says it. It is (kind of) a big deal if Newton says it.

I think he was just repeating something that was said to him by the UA people when they were wooing him. Is he stupid for repeating it? Absolutely.

 

@SIPeter_King Cam Newton in an interview with me: "I want to be King of Buffalo."

 

Gimmie a break. As if this is directed at anyone besides me, the person who started the thread, and the only person (to that point) arguing that King should have provided more context to the quote instead of throwing it up on Twitter and letting the sharks attack it like chum.

I've been in the media business for quite some time. It's incredibly weak to imply anyone who thinks King should have offered a bit more context here, especially considering he's the most widely-read NFL reporter in the business, is somehow a non-media fanboi. If you wish to have an intelligent debate, so be it. If you want to bring up Tommy Craggs' writing on Deadspin with regards to Colin Cowherd, I don't know what the hell that has to do with anything other than suggest you seem to think I'm calling King a racist here. Which I'm not.

Since you ran an hid from the Cowherd thread, either because I was unworthy of debate, or because you couldn't formulate an argument, I'm not sure in what way you'd like me to respond.

 

I didn't run and hide from the Cowherd thread. I had said all I wanted to say and I saw you had become quite unintelligent and unhinged on that thread (and also knee-jerk in defense of new media over old), so there was no point to continuing that debate.

Regarding this one, I don't know why you feel the need to carry water for Under Armour and the person they have PAID TO BE AN ENDORSER when the person talks about what he wants to achieve from being PAID TO BE AN ENDORSER. Your further explanations have offered no additional intelligence on the topic. But yes, it's certainly Peter King who has the agenda here, and not the people whose financial success depends on Cam Newton coming off well in public.

 

The fact that you think I'm the kind of person who offers a "knee-jerk defense of new media over old" makes me chuckle. Go use the mighty SportsJournalists.com search function and look for "The Big Lead" and "muppets" and see if you'd like to revise your statement.

I honestly don't give a shit about Under Armour. In fact, if you'd like me to be perfectly candid, I find a handful of UA's top-level executives to be first-class morons after dealing with them personally. Under Armour can still have an agenda, and still be scrambling to protect a dumb kid, and yet Peter King can still clarify the difference between:

This...

King: Are you fully committed to learning how to play quarterback in the NFL?

Newton: I want to be an entertainer and an icon.

And this...

King: What do you think your Under Armour deal will do for you away from the field?

Newton: I want to be an entertainer and an icon.


We still have a responsibility to be as fair as possible, even if you don't like the person offering up the stupid quote, and he's digging his own grave by even answering your question.

What's funny is I'm actually defending old media standards here while you're simply defending an old media person who threw a sensationalistic statement up on new media, then let it sit there for a week before he offered to add any context to it.

 

So as not to be accused of running and hiding, I will announce the end of my participation here by saying I find your initial post and all subsequent comments to be extremely non-compelling in your defense.

 

1 & 2--Neither changes the message that he wants to be an entertainer and icon.
3--Still doesn't change the context, and adds editorial damage.
4 & 5--If we were playing Peter or Parody, I would have voted Peter.

Nothing changes the quote, or what he meant by it. Seems incredibly obvious that he wants to be a football star who is also an entertainer and icon. So what? The onus is on the agents/handlers to a) know the client and b) calibrate his ability to handle the media responsibly. You let your guy talk to Peter King, you get what you get. They picked him for that interview, he didn't blindside Newton in an alley.