At the annual Caddy Awards dinner held in Shanghai this year, Steve Williams, who caddied for Tiger Woods for 13 years, called his former boss a “black asshole” in the presence of the press. Obviously, Williams was still pissed off because Woods had fired him in July.
By referring to Tiger as a black asshole Williams set off a shitstorm of criticism accusing him of being a racist. He was condemned by the Professional Golfers Association. Williams posted an apology on his website.
Now professional golfer Adam Scott, his new boss, is being heavily criticized for not firing Williams. Instead of firing Tiger’s former caddy, Scott accepted his apology and, barring some kind of sanction by the PGA, plans to keep Williams as his caddy.
Scott said, “I had Steve issue an apology. What more should I do? Look, anything with Tiger involved is a story. I value Steve's contribution to my game and to have him on the bag.”
My question is, does calling Tiger Woods a black asshole make Williams a racist? I suppose that had he just called Woods an asshole instead of a black asshole, there would have been little if any controversy.
I think it’s quite a stretch to call Williams a racist on the basis of this one remark. I’m sure some of you will call me a racist because I don’t consider what Williams called Woods to be a racial slur.
Now I’ve been referred to as a Jew bastard more than once. Did I like the insertion of the word Jew? Of course not! But would I consider any person who called me that to be anti-Semitic? Not unless that person made additional disparaging remarks about Jews or otherwise exhibited commonly recognized anti-Semitic behavior.
I believe calling Tiger a black asshole was just an intemperate remark that Williams made and that he should not have said anything at all about Tiger Woods in the first place.
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