ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge went viral this past December when she had to press Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert to answer her postgame questions — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is impressed with her refusal to give up.
Herbert initially brushed off the reporter when she approached him, saying, “I’m trying to celebrate with my team.”
Rutledge wouldn’t take no for an answer and pressed him further, eventually pulling some answers out of the quarterback.
“Steve, I know you’ve covered a lot of sporting events. Have you ever seen that level of rudeness directed at a reporter? I just, that was incredible. She deserves a Purple Heart,” Whitlock asks BlazeTV contributor Steve Kim on “Fearless.”
“I have a question for those who were coming out and piling on Justin Herbert, who probably played the most physically taxing game I’ve seen any quarterback [play] this year. He’s probably banged up. He’s probably drugged up with all the pharmaceuticals, right, to get him out there,” Kim says.
“If that was a black quarterback, would those people dare have the same type of words for Justin Herbert like they would, let’s say its Lamar Jackson, and I’m just using him in this example,” he continues.
“I think Justin Herbert, being a white quarterback, it takes off some of the restrictions in terms of criticizing that particular athlete. I believe that Justin Herbert was banged up. He really doesn’t feel like talking, but at the end he said, ‘You know what? This is my job, I did it,’” he adds.
Whitlock sees both sides.
“I don’t blame her for not following protocol; as a reporter, that’s not what you do. Overtime game, it’s decided late, there’s an interception, and then you just go into scramble mode, and you just do what’s necessary to get the job done,” Whitlock chimes in.
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