Abstract

In 2018, reports surfaced that NFL player Kareem Hunt was involved in a public altercation. When video footage emerged of him shoving and attempting to kick a woman, many sports fans discussed the scandal in online forums. We examine these discussions through a qualitative analysis of 2,002 comments on Reddit. We identify three frames used to interpret the altercation: (1) Condemning Hunt or violence against women; (2) Vindicating Hunt through victim-blaming, downplaying the incident or providing gendered and racial justifications; and (3) Contextualizing the altercation by considering consequences linked to NFL policies and the role of tabloid media sensationalism. We find that commenters often use ‘soft’ racial and sexist framings to assess Hunt’s culpability. We conclude by discussing the broader implications surrounding media representations of and online reactions to violence against women by racialized athletes.

摘要

2018 年，有报道称 NFL 球员卡里姆·亨特卷入了一场公开争吵。当他推搡并试图踢一名女子的视频片段出现时，许多体育迷在网上论坛上讨论了这一丑闻。我们通过对 Reddit 上 2,002 条评论的定性分析来检验这些讨论。我们确定了用于解释争吵的三个框架：（1）谴责狩猎或对妇女的暴力行为；(2) 通过指责受害者、淡化事件或提供性别和种族理由来为亨特辩护；(3) 通过考虑与 NFL 政策相关的后果和小报媒体耸人听闻的作用，将争吵背景化。我们发现评论者经常使用“软”的种族和性别歧视框架来评估亨特的罪责。