Peter King Deletes Part Of Column After He Compared The Drew Brees Reaction To Lord Of The Flies

Peter King’s Football Morning in America column has been a staple of NFL analysis for a long time. King rode the success of the SI version, Monday Morning Quarterback, to his current high-profile role for NBC’s Sunday Night Football. But King is an older white guy with an occasional penchant to put his foot in his mouth. Here’s what he said in FMIA this morning:

And just a few hours later, after at least a few people pointed out how it may be suboptimal to compare Black athletes’ reactions to Drew Brees’s initial flag comments to “savagery,” Peter King tweeted:

It’s a mostly innocent mistake by Peter King, especially amidst the word spew that is his usual 4,000-word column. But it’s one that you’re not likely to get away with if you’re a guy as big as he is who also happens to be an older white dude. You’ve got to be better when you’ve got that big of a platform, especially in one of the most delicate times we’ll ever face in our lives as Americans.

Plus, you can’t go with Lord of the Flies anyway since the book is largely a fat (and eyesight) shame on poor nerdy Piggy. It’s doubly bad business to offend people while also referencing a book that may piss off all those other groups. Go with more modern references like Hunger Games, Battle Royale, or should-be-Oscar-nominated “Stone Cold” Steve Austin classic The Condemned. That way, your coded racism only offends one group instead of hitting a Venn diagram of sensitive issues.