Pro Football Weekly host Dan
Hampton has apologized for an anti-gay remark he made during last
Sunday's broadcast.
The syndicated show is co-hosted by
Hampton, who earned his 2002 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction
after a 12-year career with the Chicago Bears, Pro Football Weekly
publisher-editor Hub Arkush, Chicago sportscaster Pat Boyle and Tom
Waddle, a former Chicago Bears player.
Hampton landed in hot water with the
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for suggesting
that the Dallas Cowboys are gay.
“The Cowboys think they are Clint
Eastwood; they're more of the Brokeback variety, if you know
what I'm talking about,” he told viewers, referring to the gay
cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain.
In asking for an apology, GLAAD said
such comments encourage anti-gay violence.
“Hampton was a tremendous player for
the Chicago Bears throughout the 1980s, he's a member of the Pro
Football Hall of Fame, he's a television personality, and whether he
likes it or nor, he's a role model. Every day, millions of kids
across this country are harassed, bullied and beaten because of
attitudes like this. Hampton should not be using this platform to
encourage homophobia.”
Arkush told GLAAD that the comment
should not have happened and promised an on-air apology was in the
offing.
“Last week I made a couple of
comments about Katrina and the gay community that not only
embarrassed myself but the fine people here at Pro Football
Weekly,” Hampton said on this week's program. “I'm an idiot.
And I am truly sorry if those comments, you know, offended any of
our great and wonderful viewers.”
“Again, I'm truly sorry about that,”
he added.