Michael Irvin: Everybody goes after Odell Beckham Jr. with gay slurs
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has been a common target of gay slurs this season, according to Hall of Famer Michael Irvin.
Beckham - who was suspended one game for "multiple violations of safety-related playing rules" in Sunday's loss to the Panthers - told Irvin that Carolina players directed gay slurs towards him before the game and taunted him with a baseball bat.
Panthers head coach Ron Rivera downplayed the bat incident Tuesday and said there's no proof his players uttered gay slurs, but this is apparently nothing new for Beckham.
"He deals with it a lot. For some reason, everybody goes after him with gay slurs," Irvin told Gary Myers of the New York Daily News. "He's a different kind of dude. He has the hairdo out, he's not the big muscular kind of dude. The ladies all love him. He's a star. I wonder why people are going in that direction. It blows my mind. I told him he can't let stuff that people say get to you."
Beckham was flagged three times for unsportsmanlike conduct and was involved in several physical confrontations with Panthers cornerback Josh Norman, including a helmet-to-helmet headbutt.
Irvin said that while Beckham feels bad about how the situation has played out, he also "feels like he's been targeted." But as Irvin explained to the young receiver, he's playing in New York, where everything is bigger.
"The more you react, the more people will try to rattle you," Irvin said. "It's just what they are going to do. Then I give him the old doctor's remedy. They give you medicine and ask if you had an allergic reaction or did you respond well. Respond to it on the football field with catches and touchdowns. Do what you do and that's how you beat all of it.
"The couple of balls he dropped, he had Josh Norman beat both times. I can imagine there is frustration on Josh's part. He had never been run by like this before. Josh Norman gets into fights with everybody. Every receiver he plays against, he gets into fights."