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His comments ‘contributed to the normalization of ableism,’ advocacy group says
The head football coach for Baylor University apologized for using the term “midgets” during a recent press conference.
Last week, Dave Aranda referenced a scene from the film “Wolf of Wall Street” where the employees are throwing midgets and decide they need to make them feel like “one of us.”
The comments were in the context of his concerns about using the transfer portal to acquire players and getting involved with “name, image, and likeness” deals.
Aranda said he wasn’t “comfortable” with how the transfer portal and NIL feels like buying and selling players. In his comments, Aranda compared how he felt those systems take advantage of players to how employees in the “Wolf of Wall Street” movie are taking advantage of midgets but try to hide it by pretending they are on the same team. (Baylor Athletics scrubbed the comments from its own version it posted).
He said:
There’s a scene in The Wolf of Wall Street, where they talk about throwing midgets. It’s like, “Hey, this midget, can he roll there?” And you go, “No, he doesn’t roll. You throw him. They’re made for throwing.” … And then after a while, they start talking and they go, “Well, you know what? I think, if you start talking, they may think we’re making fun of them. The midgets may think we’re making fun of them. So I’m going to start. They may get mad at us.”
And then the guys go, “Well, what we need to do is make them think they’re
one of us.” And they go, “One of us? One of us.”And I think that’s the thing with coaching, call it recruiting, is it’s that way. They talk about acquiring players, getting rid of players, just like that. And the whole thing underneath all that is they make them think they’re one of us, you know what I mean?
This generated outrage, which led Aranda to apologize.
“I wanted to say, last time we spoke, I had a misstep and hurt a bunch of people, so I apologize for that,” Aranda said, as reported by KCEN TV. “That was not what I intended to come across, so I’m sorry for that.
A group called Mascots Matter, which opposes the phrase “midgets,” criticized Aranda’s original comments.
“Mascots Matter is appalled by recent remarks made by Baylor University’s Head Football Coach, Dave Aranda,” the group stated. “By using this term, Coach Aranda contributed to the normalization of ableism, which continues to affect millions of people with disabilities. Such comments coming from a leader in the sports community further stigmatize people with disabilities.”
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Baylor University head football coach Dave Aranda; Big 12 at The Voice of College Football/YouTube
