Rauf I begin to go back in my mind to the fidelity incident and Tiger Woods apology to his fans. Abdul-Rauf played in the NBA years ago, and in March of 1996, refused to stand during the Star Spangled Banner for his religious beliefs. Abdul-Rauf, a born Muslim, didn't feel the necessity to stand and uphold the tradition of honoring God. Because of this, Rauf was initially booed and ridiculed with hate mail and eventually was suspended from the league. Similar to that of Tiger Woods, and many other celebrities, its the fans that feel they need to apology.
This particular article struck me as interesting because personally I don't understand why fans feel that they are the one's who deserve the apology when it comes to the mistakes that celebrities make. Like when Woods lost numerous endorsements and publicly apologized for his adultery. I don't feel that neither of these men owed fans anything.
I agree. We are all humans and when we make mistakes we don't have any obligations to apologize to others who might be offended. In the article, Abdul-Rauf states that “I had a lot of questions with my Christian background while growing up, I felt like I was being someone I wasn’t meant to be.” Obviously he didn't feel comfortable standing during the Star Spangled Banner because of the religious affiliations. So be it. We are all entitled to our own opinions.
ReplyDeleteWow I had actually never really thought about the irony of the fans expecting an apology in the event that an athlete messes up in his or her personal life. I guess that is one of the consequences of living a life in the lime light. Personally, I can't imagine holding a press conference in order to apologize for my behavior. In cases such as Tiger Woods though he might be more obligated to apologize to the fans because of all of this endorsements. Tiger owes an apology to all the fans/customers of the companies he represented and was under contract for exemplary behavior. This gets into an issue of whether a company should be able to expect that out of an athlete or other endorsee. I can understand those athletes who make apologies in order to continue their endorsements contingent upon their public appeal.
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