So yeah, Riley Cooper at the Kenny Chesney concert happened, and it appears as if the Internet is currently tripping over its collective self in an effort to respond. In case you missed it, the wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles had an incredibly stupid screw up during the show, and naturally, it was captured on video and posted for the world to see. Cooper’s mistake? Saying he would hop over a fence and “fight every nigger here.” While it may be true, as pointed out by Deadspin commenter pkellen2313, there probably weren’t very many people you can apply that derogatory term to attending the Kenny Chesney concert, that really doesn’t let Cooper off the hook, at least in the eyes of a social media-addicted culture that explodes like a volcano when something controversial happens in sports.
Before that, however, the video that’s currently burning up the social media charts:
Who knows? Maybe it was Cooper’s beer doing the talking, but then again, this isn’t the kind of screw up where you can make excuses and it goes away. It seems like Cooper is well aware of that, at least according to his Twitter account:
I am so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I want to apologize. I have been offensive. I have apologized to my coach, Jeffrey Lurie, and
— Riley Cooper (@RileyCooper_14) July 31, 2013
Howie roseman and to my teammates. I owe an apology to the fans and to this community. I am so ashamed, but there are no excuses. What I did
— Riley Cooper (@RileyCooper_14) July 31, 2013
Was wrong and I will accept the consequences.
— Riley Cooper (@RileyCooper_14) July 31, 2013
What these consequences will be remains to be seen, especially considering the freshness of the story. Will the Eagles cut Cooper? If so, will he ever find another job in a league with workforce that is almost 70 percent African-American? Furthermore, will these teammates be accepting of someone who mouthed off like that? Granted, the theme in the NFL seems to be as long as the player gets things done on the field, allowances will be made. Of course, what allowances do opposing defenses have to make when they have a free shot on someone who was so careless and cast themselves in an incredibly racist light?
As for Cooper, he’s taking an absolute beating on Twitter. An example:
wonder if Riley Cooper plans to fight every "nigger" on his football team…
— LWS, Esq. (@5_FIFTHS) July 31, 2013
Riley Cooper. When keeping it real goes wrong
— jONATHAN (@JLspruill) July 31, 2013
Who exactly was Riley Cooper gonna fight Darius Rucker or Nelly?
— Joel Turner (@jturn186) July 31, 2013
Riley Cooper said this at a country concert tho. Would have been quiet had this been a Meek Mill concert in Philly.
— Ron Burgundy (@Ron_XXI) July 31, 2013
"I WILL FIGHT EVERY MAN HERE."- Riley Cooper at Curves
— Lil Amos (@PeoplePlanter) July 31, 2013
Michael Richards thinks that Riley Cooper's career will be fine
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) July 31, 2013
It’s not been a good day for ole Riley.
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