ESPN's Berman: "Feets Don't Fail Me Now"

ESPN/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

by Mark Finkelstein

December 31, 2005 - 19:48.

When a few years ago Rush Limbaugh suggested that the media, hoping for a black-quarterback success story, had over-rated Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, ESPN fired him from its Sunday night football show.

Can you imagine what the media would have done to Rush had he dared to employ the classically racial "feets don't fail me now" line?

Yet that is exactly what major ESPN personality Chris Berman did a few minutes ago in introducing coverage of this afternoon's Denver Broncos game.

He apparently said it vis a vis white Denver Broncos QB Jake Plummer.

Berman's co-host, black former Denver linebacker Tom Jackson, gave what seemed a rather forced laugh in response.

Odds that Berman, who has described himself as a "New England Democrat," will face any discipline? Slim, IMO.

[silent_jonny]

LOL--exactly right.

[Graybeard58]

Already corrected, but thanks again.

My apologies for not reading further before posting.

...But it's a good picture of Stepin Fetchit.

[bigj00]

When did he defend Rush? He didn't do it on the air! He'll get away with this because he's liberal. He and the rest of espn can kiss my .........

[HawaiianGecko]

 

"The fact is that we are becoming a thoroughly non-bigoted, class-free,
non-racial, democratic, public-educated mass of linguistic cretins."

Good post! Every bit of it. For the last few years I thought I was crazy or missing some important helix in my DNA for not being so hypersensitive to all this false racial indignation I've been hearing lately.

Now I realize there are others with a brain. Then again, we could just both be nuts.

[Charles Henrickson]

I am 52. When I hear the phrase, "Feets don't fail me now," I immediately think of it as the stock expression for frightened, bug-eyed black men from films of the 1930s and '40s. While it played on a racial stereotype, I thought it was just funny ethnic humor. It didn't make me think less of blacks. On the contrary, I thought the black performers were funny at what they did.

Berman is close to my age. I'm sure he knows the phrase best in the same way I do. And I'm also sure he is not a racist or bigot.

The salient point being made here is the double standard at work. If a known conservative had made the same remark, likewise in an innocent way, he would be excoriated in the media. There would be calls by "civil rights" groups for the guy to be suspended or fired.

(BTW, I never heard of that album from the 1970s, which apparently was playing on the '30s-'40s expression. I didn't listen to that band.)

[DCPatriot]

No, they would have tried to crucify him. You're right.

But I've used the phrase many times in my life and never thought I was making fun of black people. So I'm not passing judgement on Berman.

[filbert]

Please answer this question: if Rush Limbaugh had used the phrase "feets don't fail me now," do you think he would have been taken to task by the PC liberal media?

Yes or no?

On his own radio show: No, probably not--no more than anything else he says there. Rush is however certainly a "person of interest" to the Hypersensitivity Police so they can be depended on to grasp at any straw to make him out to look like a racist.

Look, Rush is a political commentator, not a sports commentator. That's what he is, and that's how he's perceived by pretty much everybody, regardless of whether or not his gig is on EIB or ESPN. Things that sports commentators say are judged by a somewhat different and more lax standard than what political commentators say. Anyone who is the least little bit surprised by that is gravely naive.

What I don't understand is why Newsbusters (and by extension we at FR) have joined the Hypersensitivity Police by taking offense at the a) the phrase in the first place; b) the phrase used in the context it was, AND c) somehow linking it to "What Would Rush Do."

Silly, all the way around.

[silent_jonny]

The entire point was the double standard: Berman probably skates because he's a liberal. Rush would have been nailed for saying the same thing.

I understand that. Any conservative would have been reprimanded for saying this and would have been forced to give a public apology if he wanted to keep his job.

We all know that.

But it didn't happen. And it won't happen--unless somebody has an axe to grind with Berman.

As Rush would say: "This is a 'what-if'. I don't deal in 'what-ifs'.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I'm not passing judgment on Berman either, but I don't doubt that, given the phrase's history, many people continue to find it offensive.

[InvisibleChurch]

If Berman yells out, "The sherrif is a-ne'er", then ping me.

[timtoews5292004]

according to the "Behind the Scenes" sportscenter show they do once a year, Berman's been at his gag for way more than 12 years. closer to 20, actually. He mentions starting it in the mid-80s.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Sounds like we largely agree. Still, I have a feeling Rush might find this story interesting, and it wouldn't surprise me if he mentions it on his show this week.

[hinckley buzzard]

It was a classic racial stereotype of the frightened black man, a bug-eyed Stepin Fetchit type

I think I heard Buckwheat say it on The Little Rascals. Maybe not. No question it had a racial origin, however.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Reminds me of Howard Cosell, and how he got a little bit of flack (that's all that would happen back then), when he commented about a Redskins player on Monday Night Football....."Look at that little monkey run!"

That would have been Alvin Garrett, and the "little bit of flack" he got resulted in his resigning from Monday Night Football.

[SamAdams76]

I think most people over the age of 18 would realize the phrase was not originated in a Little Feat song.

I'm 43 years old and I never realized that this phrase was once considered racist. Then again, I never got the "Sambo" thing either.

It's been a good forty years now since racism was a major force in our society. I think it's time we all just learned to get over it.

[silent_jonny]

Sounds like we largely agree

Absolutely. I was just disagreeing with you on one point.

Happy New Year :)

[GraniteStateConservative]

Regardless, we can all agree that Berman sucks.

[Petronski]

Regardless, we can all agree that Berman sucks.

Oh yes. Definitely.

[HawaiianGecko]

 

I am 54. When I hear the phrase, "Feets don't fail me now," I immediately think of it as a great album from the '70s. In fact a google search of the phrase in quotes comes up with nearly 13,000 hits and the entire 1st page is all about the song.

governsleastgovernsbest ... Yes I agree with you. If Rush had said this he would have been hammered for it, but not by me as I wouldn't have seen it as racist. Come to think of it, if it wasn't for this thread I would have never thought it a racist phrase, now I'll have to double clutch and think before I'm in a black club and feel the urge to shout. "Feets don't fail me now!" 

If I was the owner of the club, I'd buy me a drink and laugh knowing that I'm a bit more secure with my life as a black man than the politically correct crowd.

[HawaiianGecko]

 

"If Berman yells out, "The sherrif is a-ne'er", then ping me."