Rashard Mendenhall Loses Champion Endorsement Deal Over Controversial Tweets

The negative backlash from Rashard Mendenhall's controversial tweets after Osama bin Laden's death continued on Wednesday when the Pittsburgh Steelers running back lost an endorsement deal.

According to Michael McCarthy of USA Today, Mendenhall has been "dropped as an endorser" by corporate sponsor Champion.

The athletic brand released a statement, saying that the company does not think "Mendenhall can appropriately represent Champion."

After President Obama announced that bin Laden had been killed, the 23-year-old posted comments on his twitter account which questioned what really happened to the World Trade Center on September 11.

Steelers President Art Rooney II addressed Mendenhall's comments and said that he could not "explain or even comprehend" what he meant.

Mendenhall apologized and clarified his comments on Wednesday.

RELATED: A Storied Franchise: Pittsburgh Steelers are fifth oldest team in the NFL

Comments

[WellDuh]

08:50 AM on 05/12/2011

Rashard needs to accept that Al-Quaeda itself claims 911 whether they did it or not. So one way or another there is something very wrong with that group.

If he is offended by the idea that Moslems would do such a thing...well he needs to join those Islamics who have denounced Al-Quaeda as Satanic imitators of Islam and not true practitioners. In doing so he can still reserve the right to say the US allied reaction to the group is a wrong approach...although he would philosophically be obliged to state what he considers an appropriate response to such a bad group.

[steelej]

12:50 PM on 05/09/2011

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/world-trade-center-collapse.html

This is for all the ridiculous people, not that it will change any minds.

[slevydc]

10:19 PM on 05/08/2011

That's all good and fine. I have the right as a consumer not to purchase any Champion apparel (they still exist?!), I hope others will join me in sending THEM a message. The company's position may have been legally legitimate, but many would agree that it was in poor taste...let this man have his own opinion!

[WellDuh]

09:17 AM on 05/12/2011

Dude an endorsement is basically an appeal to "buy this product if you want to be like me". When people don't want to be like you...why should a company continue to pay?

I bet you have boycotted companies before when you disliked opinions or behaviors of their spokespersons. Micheal Vick lost his endorsements...did you complain about freedom to commit crimes and socially repugnant behaviors at that time?

If you just love Rashard and his ideas -- claim that, not defending freedom of speech. Get a fan club fund going for his retirement. Get your church to announce that you think only pro-athletes should be qualified for political office...cause they need the bux when their talent goes away and concussions make you smarter.

[Blackorpheus]

07:13 PM on 05/08/2011

So much for the First Amendment.

[Gasparilla]

07:50 PM on 05/08/2011

You're a professor and you think this is a first amendment case? Hope you're not in law.

[Blackorpheus]

08:17 PM on 05/08/2011

Law is commonly prescribed by institutions and potentates to enforce their own benefits. Justice is what is what interests me.

[stonelaw]

12:56 PM on 05/08/2011

There really is a controversy over bin Laden. I heard all about it on the RL radio show. Apparently there is a serious question over whether or not bin Laden is truly dead because the administration refuses to provide a copy of bin Laden's birth certificate. Not making that up, folks.

[Megandale]

01:12 PM on 05/08/2011

haha!

[WellDuh]

09:48 AM on 05/12/2011

Yes the US just declared him dead so that they have complete freedom to interrogate Bin Laden without goodytwoshoes, religious, or Al-Quaeda kidnap exchange interference.

See freedom and speech are involved after all. ROFLMAO

[ms.understood]

12:30 PM on 05/08/2011

usually, sports guys are too st.upid to comment on politics. stick to passing or throwing a ball, or, whatever it is that you do...

[argentino]

12:20 PM on 05/08/2011

Not to worry, Abdul's Goat Emporium is looking for a spokesman...

[BrotherJohn2010]

11:19 AM on 05/08/2011

Seriously, Champion? As if your products were better than your competition anyway. I saw absolutely nothing wrong with Mendenhall expressing his thoughts via tweets (which contained no hateful or explicit language). it's not like he issued a press release to the news media - they ran with his tweets. This episode shows that sometimes democracy can be a two-faced myth.

[Gasparilla]

11:41 AM on 05/08/2011

Hello? As if his tweets weren't widely available to the public. Nor does this have a single thing to do with democracy or free speech. You can talk all you want. No company has to pay you for it.

[MrUnlimited]

04:17 PM on 05/08/2011

There's nothing in the Constitution that says your employer has to pay you regardless of what opinions you express.

"I saw absolutely nothing wrong with Mendenhall expressing his thoughts via tweets (which contained no hateful or explicit language)."

There's nothing wrong with Mendenhall expressing his thoughts. There's also nothing wrong with a company terminating its relationship with Mendenhall as a result of those thoughts. This has NOTHING to do with democracy and free speech.

[didyouseethat]

10:03 AM on 05/08/2011

What a ma'mone. Play football and stay out of the intellectual arena. You will never have a game scheduled there.

[Bude]

08:17 AM on 05/08/2011

Give him a break, he's a football player. he's paid for his brawn not his brain.

[JessCostello]

07:59 AM on 05/08/2011

Mendenhall is entitled to his own opinion and some of his tweets really weren't that bad or atypical from other leftist reactions.
 
But he does come across as a disenguous little snake for the "I'm sorry if you were mistaken and thus offended" bit.
 
He also said that he didn't sympathize with OBL....while stating that we hadn't heard his side of the story. What side of the Islamist story should we have heard? That we needed to become subservient to Muslims? That we should be paying Jizya in exchange for our worthless lives? That Islam should be allowed to spread in Western countries while any trace of non-Muslims must be driven from Arabia, the Maghreb and Levant?
 
Lastly the part about most Americans never hearing a word he said is laughable. He was one of the most watched and quoted men in the world the last 10 years. His speeches have been translated into English/French/German/Spanish etc. so there's no shortage of that. Perhaps Mendenhall is the one who hasn't been listening.
 
 

[WellDuh]

09:55 AM on 05/12/2011

Must be those concussions Rashid received.

But seriously Rashid is having problems because he accepts A-Queada's word that they represent true Islamic practice and belief. Therefore in Rashid's mind they could have done those terrible things.

Like most Muslims he needs to start considering that just because someone tells you that they are a good Muslim does not make it so. Reject Al-Quaeda as the true face of Islam and things get a lot simpler.

[Gasparilla]

07:30 AM on 05/08/2011

9 11 truthers always claim the towers fell into their own footprints. Not so, you can see a large chunk of the top of the north tower falls to the right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N2JdWyynLY&feature=related

[BreezyinVA]

06:20 PM on 05/09/2011

I've never said that. They steel was ejected out into other buildings 300-500 feet out. Where did that force come from. Had they fallen in their footprint the retaining wall to the Hudson would have broken and Manhattan would have flooded. Be care using the word "always." It is unlearned.

[WellDuh]

10:09 AM on 05/12/2011

The force comes in part from the sideways bowing of vertical supports under stress. If the connection breaks the energy stored in bowing will release in part sideways. Similar to why a rubber ball pinched vertically can slip out and fly sideways. Sometimes you can squeeze a paper clip this way.

Remember the top floors did fall onto momentarily intact lower floors. Drop a glass bottle on the floor and watch pieces fly sideways. And items under compression do sometimes shoot out sideways when they fail. Sit a gallon of milk on a tower of dominoes.

Conspiracy is always possible. But here, like most everywhere else, its actually unlikely. Especially those theories that claim the US, allied governments and Al-Queada all conspired. The relationships are just too conflicted and unequal to make good partners.

[patpeanutman1]

04:58 AM on 05/08/2011

more like Retard Mendenhall What an idiot does he have George Clooney syndrome He should be fined and suspended. I hope he gets a career ending injury curtesy of the Ravens

[BreezyinVA]

06:22 PM on 05/09/2011

Your darkness is offensive.

[Slater Torret]

10:57 PM on 05/09/2011

Yes! Yes!
A career ending injury to anyone who disagrees with me!
Frickin' barbarians. Yet another American who believes "freedom" means the ability take other people's freedoms away.

[bsultan]

01:11 AM on 05/08/2011

Mendenhall really had to face the public's wrath over merely expressing his opinion. Even the Westboro Baptist Church hasn't been treated so harshly for exercising their First Amendment rights.

[didyouseethat]

10:05 AM on 05/08/2011

It's far beyond his opinion that got him in trouble.

[Danielle1901]

11:03 PM on 05/07/2011

Take us to the superbowl next year Mendenhall! We love you here in Florida and North Carolina. I speak for everyone haha!

[WellDuh]

10:22 AM on 05/12/2011

Now that is how to express unconditional love. Be honest when you say "we don't care if you committed unspeakable acts with fill-in-the-blank -- we just want our winning entertainment".

I might not agree with an R.Kelly verdict -- but at least I don't think you are insincere or an idiot with no understanding of what the problem was. You just don't care.