TheLeafsNation Top 25 of 2020: #23 — We’re done with Steve Simmons
By Zach Laing
3 years agoWelcome to the yearly wrap up of the top read articles over the last year!
There’s one Toronto sports columnist who has certainly caused up a fair share of controversy in thanks to constant jabs at those in the market.
And on Sept. 17, an article from JakeBeLeafs noting Steve Simmons’ long-track record and at the time his abjectly racist comment, came in as TheLeafsNation’s 23rd most-read article.
Simmons had found himself at the forefront of the wrath of social media after he, on Sept. 17, asked Toronto Raptors’ president Masai Ujiri why he has spoken out about racism, but not crime in Toronto.
The coded racism say TSN’s Kayla Grey, amongst many others, speak out against Simmons’ question.
Here’s what JakeBeLeafs wrote in his piece:
You might consider forgiving this columnist for posing an abjectly racist question masquerading as an innocent whattaboutism to the black leader of the local championship professional sports organization in his season ending press conference. To be fair to the truth-seeker, the most pressing question following the team’s championship season and subsequent miracle season, after having lost their superstar for nothing, all performed before the backdrop of police brutality and violent response to non-violent protest against the former, should of course have been about what the team would do to fight black on black crime in the local city. It is, after all, the constitution of this columnists paper to obfuscate and misdirect the truth for the purposes of its masters.You might consider forgiving this columnist, but you certainly shouldn’t. Because like Warmington, Levy, and Lilley, among his other salient Toronto Sun cohorts, Steve Simmons, first and foremost, is going to act like a jackass. He has not earned your ear, and he has not earned your forgiveness. He has not earned his place in the mainstream Toronto sports lexicon. Steve Simmons is a standout in an embarrassing cast of characters with far too much access and no gift of gab. Toronto culture will be much better off without him.
On Twitter: @zjlaing
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