Woody Johnson has come under fire recently for allegedly making racist and sexist comments.
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Following allegations against Jets owner Woody Johnson, former NFL wide receiver Donté Stallworth is ready to compare him to a man who has already been banned from a professional sports league.
Stallworth, who played 10 seasons in the NFL for the six different teams, likened Johnson to disgraced former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was banned from the NBA in 2014 and forced to sell the team after his racist remarks became public.
“I wonder how Jets players feel that the team owner, Woody Johnson, doesn’t like to be around ‘a whole bunch of Black people,'” Stallworth tweeted. “Sounds like the NFL’s version of Donald Sterling.”
Stallworth specifically referenced a section of the CNN report that alleges Johnson made racist and sexist remarks during his time as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom. The story claims Johnson asked if a 2018 event for Black History Month would include “a whole bunch of Black people,” questioned why the Black community wanted a month to celebrate Black history and said that Black fathers leaving their families was the “real challenge.”
CNN also reported allegations that Johnson made sexist remarks, objectifying, excluding and belittling women and women’s related events on numerous occasions. Another report, from The New York Times, alleges Johnson also used his position as ambassador to promote President Donald Trump’s business in the UK. Johnson was investigated by State Department watchdogs.
It’s unclear what the recourse will be for Johnson, who denied the allegations, but the Sterling outcome would be the nuclear option for the NFL.
When private recordings of Sterling making racist comments surfaced in April 2014, it set off a chain of events that included a plethora of internal discussions between the league, players and coaches, boycotts of the Clippers logo by players and ultimately resulted in a lifetime ban for Sterling and a $2.5 million fine. The Sterling Family Trust eventually sold the Clippers to Steve Ballmer, officially severing ties between Sterling and the NBA.
Former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson had a similar situation unfold in 2017 when news broke that he paid off Panthers employees due to inappropriate workplace conduct that included sexual harassment and racist comments. He sold the team in 2018 as a result of the scandal.
The Sterling scandal took the sports world by storm and led to a quick and decisive ousting of a racist owner. It’s unclear what the NFL will do about Johnson, however. The league was aware of the story as of Wednesday afternoon but deferred comment to the State Department.
CNN reported that a spokesperson said the State Department stands by Johnson.
