[dabigv13]

Just in recent memory you have the Riley Cooper incident; the Eagles ended up keeping him as a starting WR while dropping their much more talented #1 WR. Some debate about whether or not that decision was made because he was "thug". There are plenty of other incidents of players saying or doing racist stuff. A couple important differences- those comments are usually public, and they're usually in some sense isolated and then immediately apologized for.

Here's a lens for isolating those differences- if Donald Sterling used the n-word to refer to a bouncer in public at a concert, would the reaction be the same?

I think yes it would be, at least very similar. And that's interesting to me, because normally you think of people in power getting away with stuff that their employees can't.

[dabigv13]

Just in recent memory you have the Riley Cooper incident; the Eagles ended up keeping him as a starting WR while dropping their much more talented #1 WR. Some debate about whether or not that decision was made because he was "thug". There are plenty of other incidents of players saying or doing racist stuff. A couple important differences- those comments are usually public, and they're usually in some sense isolated and then immediately apologized for.

Here's a lens for isolating those differences- if Donald Sterling used the n-word to refer to a bouncer in public at a concert, would the reaction be the same?

I think yes it would be, at least very similar. And that's interesting to me, because normally you think of people in power getting away with stuff that their employees can't.