Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton intimated in an interview published Monday that racism is an issue that the U.S. has maneuvered past.
GQ magazine asked the reigning NFL MVP about his comments on race before Super Bowl 50, when he said he’s “an African-American quarterback that may scare a lot of people.”
His view appears to have changed in the months since even as racial divide remains a topic nationally in the wake of the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, two unarmed black men shot by police in separate incidents this summer.
“I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not,” Newton told the magazine. “It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.”
Newton also punted on questions surrounding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and North Carolina’s controversial restroom law that reversed the rights extended to by some municipalities in the state. The law outraged the LGBT community and led the NBA to yank the 2017 All-Star Game.LGBT community and led the NBA to yank the 2017 All-Star Game.
“That’s too personal," Newton said of House Bill 2, which mandates people must use the restroom or locker room that corresponds to their biological sex. “You know, I gain nothing by answering it.”
Newton defended football, which has increasingly been linked to long-term and debilitating neurological issues due to concussions and other less-traumatic brain injuries.
“But they don’t talk about the joy it brings,” Newton said. “Super Bowl Sunday trumps every TV rating known to man.”
He added “of course” he’d let his son, Chosen, to play football.
“Why wouldn’t they let them play football?” Newton asked.
