Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo has responded to San Francisco 49ers conrnerback Chris
Culliver's anti-gay remarks.
Culliver, whose team will play the
Ravens in Sunday's Super Bowl, made his remarks during an interview
with comedian-radio personality Artie Lange
“And what about gay guys? Any of
them approach you?” Lange asked.
“No, I don't do the gay guys. Man, I
don't do that.”
“Are any on the 49ers?”
“No, we don't got no gay people on
the team,” Culliver, 24, answered. “You know, they gotta get up
out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff.”
“Really, is that true?”
“Yeah, it's true.”
“They might be able to play well,”
Lange said.
“Nah … can't be … in the locker
room man. Nah.”
After team officials denounced his
comments, Culliver apologized in a statement issued by the 49ers and
again in front of the media. (The video is embedded on this page.
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At a Ravens press conference held on
Thursday, Ayanbadejo called Culliver's comments a learning
experience.
“Being from the Bay Area myself,
that's something that we really try to preach – love and acceptance
of everybody,” he
said. “So I really couldn't even say anything negative to the
young man. It's one of those things that you have to live and you
have to learn. In the words of Martin Luther King, you can't fight
hate with hate, you have to fight hate with love.”
“I've preached since day 1 to my
teammates, there are certain words you can't say,” Ayanbadejo
added. “When they're around me, they know, if B.A. is around, you
can't say gay in a derogatory manner. You can't say the three-letter
'f' word.”
“He's in the Bay Area, so it's real
important there. It's pertinent and so I think he's going to learn
and he's going to grow from it and he's going to be a better person
for it.”