Criticize Caleb Williams, the football player, all you want. He’s playing the most-scrutinized position for the NFL’s charter franchise, the Chicago Bears. Ripping Williams on football terms is basically part of the job description for the former No. 1 overall pick. Even if some of the football conversation about him might occasionally veer into “meatball” territory, all criticism along these lines is fair game.
Criticizing or even making fun of Williams for painting his nails is a different story. That is not OK.
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Never mind that one of the main reasons Williams paints his nails is to honor his mother, who is a lifelong nail technician by trade. It’s blatant homophobia, too. It’s this dangerous and toxic idea that Williams is somehow a lesser man because he’s not subscribing to traditional (repressive) masculine ideals. Also, when Williams paints his nails, he’s simply expressing himself and not hurting anyone. It’s not impacting his play on the field, either.
What reasonable, well-adjusted person could find any fault in that? If Williams painting his nails really does bother you on a fundamental level, I urge you to start interrogating why.
During CBS’s Week 1 NFL pregame show at Lambeau Field, a Packers fan claimed the Bears can’t win the NFC North division because … Williams paints his fingernails (?) in a fit of thinly veiled homophobia. He could’ve said he thinks Williams isn’t a good quarterback and left it there. He didn’t have to cross that hateful line.
Amid a gross uproar of approval from surrounding Packer fans, former Bear Kyle Long had a perfect rebuttal to this sentiment:
That’s right, folks. If you detest the mere fact that Williams paints his nails, how much worse will you feel if he actually turns into a star quarterback capable of tormenting your favorite team on any given Sunday? That’s the sort of “high-road” rebuttal that I think we can all appreciate.
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: Kyle Long slammed Packers fan’s homophobic Caleb Williams comment