America’s National Football League (NFL) has drafted its first openly gay player but negative reaction to the broadcasting of the moment Michael Sam received the news that he will be on the roster of the St Louis Rams next season has shown the US remains a long way from embracing this particular kind of diversity.
Sports network ESPN sent a camera crew to cover Sam’s reaction to the possible phone call, which was not unusual for those hotly tipped to be drafted from the college system. Neither is it unusual for the draftee to embrace and kiss attendant family members, wives or girlfriends. But when Sam got the news he was waiting for, the closest person in attendance was boyfriend Vito Cammisano and, it seems, America was not quite ready for a gristly giant of the gridiron to plant a big sloppy kiss straight on the lips of another man.
Producer Seth Markman, who oversees NFL draft coverage for ESPN, said that in the extensive preparation for Sam’s possible draft, they never thought that the kiss was a possibility that they should account for – in spite of the fact that straight players regularly kiss their significant others once being drafted.
“We never had one discussion about, ‘What if he’s drafted, his partner’s there and they kiss?’ Honestly, it never came up,” Markman said.
He suggested a possible generational split over how much it matters. “When I got home last night and saw the attention [it was receiving], it kind of threw me. (…) We’re a young production crew and quite honestly it was just another moment in the years we’ve done this.
“In the truck, we were only saying, ‘Wow, this is great emotion here.’ No one stepped up and said, ‘Oh, wow, do we really want to be showing this?’”
The same holds true for the NFL Network, which had an agreement to show the video taken by ESPN at the San Diego home of Sam’s agent and first aired by Disney-owned ESPN.
“We had no discussion on the NFL Network side about how or how much or how little we would show, if or when Michael was selected,” said Mike Muriano, NFL Network senior coordinating producer.
“We were certainly not blind or deaf to the cultural significance, but draft day can be similarly life-changing for all the players and those close to them,” he said, adding: “We try to tap into that with all these kids.”
Timing amplified and extended the story’s play on both networks, since it came near the draft’s conclusion and the networks could stick with Sam instead of quickly moving on to another pick. If the display of affection had been edited by ESPN, Markman said, it would have been inconsistent with more than three decades of draft-day coverage that includes a long string of players kissing their girlfriends.
