Michael Sam, the NFL's first openly gay
player, has a huge fan in actor Daniel Radcliffe.
Sam makes his first outing Friday as a
St. Louis Ram in a preseason game against the New Orleans Saints in
St. Louis.
In an interview with gay
glossy Out,
Radcliffe cheered on Sam and called out critics.
“I think it’s fucking awesome,”
Radcliffe said. “It’s fantastic that he’s got a team. It’s
horrendous that he slipped to 249 after being the SEC defensive
player of the year. People can say whatever they like about his
athleticism, or not fitting the bill for certain conditions or
whatever, but the fact is no player in the last six years to win that
award has been drafted lower than 16th overall, I think. So it’s
sad that that was an issue. But I think he’s amazing, frankly. In
interviews, at no point does he allow himself to be portrayed as a
victim or someone who deserves extra sympathy. He’s brilliant at
shutting that down. I think everybody else just hopes he does
fucking brilliantly this year, and that there’s [going to be] a
list of quarterbacks who got sacked by a gay defensive end.”
He added: “My favorite comments
online were the ones that said, 'I don’t mind him being gay, but I
don’t want to see him kiss his boyfriend.' Well, you kinda do
mind, then. Also, I presume Michael Sam told the world he was gay so
that when he was drafted he could do that without having to fucking
think about it or hide it. And I think that’s a fantastic thing.
Hopefully Michael Sam’s taking the plunge for everyone who will
come after him.”