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Dana White critic Jenni Carlson not without controversy herself

By Zach Arnold | April 8, 2009

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I’m sure that you’ve seen the stories on the USA Today and MMA Payout web sites about Jenni Carlson, leader of the Association of Women in Sports Media, making her displeasure publicly known about Dana White’s comments towards Loretta Hunt on YouTube.

Unfortunately, the situation for AWSM is one in which the organization has the right message but the wrong messenger leading the charge.

Sports fans in Oklahoma and the Dallas/Fort Worth area have a pretty good idea who Jenni Carlson is (long-time columnist for The Oklahoman). However, Carlson became a national figure a couple of years ago when Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy exploded on her at a press conference (in his infamous “I”m a man! I’m 40!” post-game rant). Gundy’s tirade was about a column Carlson wrote in The Oklahoman newspaper on QB Bobby Reid (who lost his job to QB Zack Robinson). Carlson’s column caused such a ripple effect in the local Oklahoma sports scene that she got nuclear heat for what she wrote.

After Mike Gundy’s rant went viral, Bobby Reid accused Gundy of putting on a show and not being serious about the matter. Gundy maintains that he was defending Reid from what Carlson said about him. Carlson, Reid, and Gundy all ended up taking heat.

Carlson’s column in question about Reid is here. In short, she came off as a female version of Jay Mariotti. If Mariotti went after Dana White on Around the Horn, the vast majority of sports fans would side with Dana White no matter what White did. That’s the position Carlson found herself in after this column — even if she was entirely accurate with what she wrote, she wrote it in such a manner that Gundy was automatically guaranteed super babyface heat from American sports fans. Jay Mariotti understands his schtick and his gimmick and has profitted handsomely from it. The difference between him and Jenni Carlson is that Mariotti is not the head of an advocacy group, while Carlson is.

Which brings us to Dana White’s rant on Loretta Hunt and the attitude towards women in MMA. Clearly there is a lot of sexism in the business. It’s wrong and it has no place in the industry. However, if Carlson’s media campaign continues to pick up steam against White, she may in fact end up hurting the cause more than helping it given her past incident with Reid & Gundy and the negative stigma she created for herself. The more people know who Jenni Carlson is and what she was written in the past, the more likely (in my opinion) Dana White is likely to gain babyface sympathy from American sports fans.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

10 Responses to “Dana White critic Jenni Carlson not without controversy herself”

  1. Leslie says:

    I don’t see how another video of angry man venting his frustrations at a female reporter over a story is going to hurt the sexism case here.

    The woman doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. I don’t think her personal history is going to be much of an issue. Whatever “heat” she had has long faded, and if it comes up again it will be as, “Jenni Carlson, spokesperson AWSM who herself was the target of an infamous rant by a male sports figure…”

  2. robthom says:

    Never heard of her. Tell her to bring it on.

  3. 2short says:

    How many times have we heard Dana White call someone, including internet “media”, an asshole? Now we are supposed to get worked up because he called a woman the female version of asshole? I would argue that Loretta Hunt is getting the same treatment that Dana White gives to any media member he does not like.

    Dana White was out of line with his comments, but he is ALWAYS out of line with his comments. No one gets worked up when he verbally lashes out at men, why should we be any more offended because he lashed out at a woman this time?

  4. Rollo the Cat says:

    2short is exactly right. Hunt is a big girl and if she can’t handle the pressure, same pressure as all reporters get, she should get out of the business. She has no claim to special rights or privileges because of her sex.

    Two things are going on. First, people see a chance to go after Dana and the jealous little men do so. Second, a few losers are trying to get on Loretta’s good side because she is a woman.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    Typical women in the media. Dana White is not sexist. He is an equal oppurtunity hater. It would be one thing if he only hated on women, but he didn’t. He talks like that to men too. If women want equality, they can’t have it both ways.

  6. Steve4192 says:

    Dana White was dead wrong to use the term faggot and needed to apologize for that.

    His personal attack on Loretta however, has become par for the course. He has hurled so many insults and curse words at reporters over the years that it has become an accepted practice. Where was the righteous indignation when he was using similar colorful language regarding Josh Gross, Jeff Sherwood, & Steve Cofield? To suddenly get your nose bent out of joint because this time the reporter happens to have a vagina rather than a penis reeks of opportunism.

  7. Steve4192 says:

    Also, for those of you bashing Loretta for this, get your heads out of your ass.

    This is not Loretta’s doing. She has never asked for an apology or to be treated differently. This is some unrelated organization trying to to get some time in the spotlight. As far as I can tell, Loretta has nothing to do with the AWSM’s demand for an apology. Hell, I suspect Jenni Carlson couldn’t pick Loretta Hunt out of a lineup to save her life, and had never heard of Loretta prior to Dana’s video hitting the newswire.

  8. klown says:

    Count on 45 to be the regressive voice.

    Dana White is wrong to attack ANY reporters this way. The fact he does it to many is hardly a justification for those times he does it with extra venom. In this case, with blatant sexism and homophobia.

  9. Fred says:

    Zach is 100% right. An advocate with an agenda is not going to help Loretta Hunt or female sports reporters one bit. Loretta herself said that she has a good relationship with Dana and did not say that the comments upset her. As usual with these advocacy group leaders, they never care about what the person in question (in this case, Loretta) thinks. These advocates have an agenda and they want to promote that agenda, no matter what.

    Fans of the sport are on Dana’s side in this thing. Jenni Carlson has no credibility with MMA’s demographic, and she will only look like a tool with a chip on her shoulder. The best thing for Loretta would be for this farcical incident to go away.

  10. Nc says:

    As an Ok State fan (and FORMER reader of The Daily Oklahoman sports where she is employed), I find that using Jenni Carlson’s name and journalism in the same sentence is quite comical.

    The article making fun of Bobby Reid is just the tip of the iceberg.

    Ok State fans (and Coaches as seen by Gundy) have had it with the so-called journalism integrity of Carlson and her ilk at that newspaper. It’s not a coincidence that Gaylord’s name is on the Sooner football stadium and also the Daily Oklahoman.

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