(Mike Kogan’s profile pic courtesy of FindABearTonight.xxx)
At this point, we all know that Nate Diaz has been suspended and fined for calling Bryan Caraway a “Fag” through his twitter account. Other than deleting and re-wording his original tweet, Diaz has been silent on the matter since originally criticizing Caraway for accepting the Submission of the Night bonus cash that was originally designated for Pat Healy until “Bam Bam” tested positive for marijuana metabolites after choking out Jim Miller at UFC 159.
Diaz’s new manager Mike Kogan, however, just can’t seem to shut up about it all — and he’s making his client look even worse in the process.
Immediately following Diaz’s tweet, Kogan issued a ridiculous justification to MMA Junkie that showcased a stunning lack of self-awareness.
“Guess what? The word faggot, at least in Northern California, and where Nate is from, means bitch,” Kogan said. “It means you’re a little punk. It has nothing to do with homosexuals at all. So when Nate made the comment that he made, he didn’t make it in reference to homosexuals or calling Caraway a homosexual. He just said it was a bitch move.”
Separating the word “faggot” from its many historical applications for insulting gay people, as Kogan tried to do, is a stretch. But let’s say that it was possible to separate them. We’d still be left with Diaz publicly calling someone a “bitch” — another word commonly used to insinuate homosexuality, and far more often used to insult women — and Kogan defending the usage of that word just as strongly.
Even if we recognize the obvious fact that Diaz’s tweet was insensitive, few people would crucify him simply for using those slurs in a moment of frustration. All we’re asking for is a little reflection, and some recognition of the fact that, though you may not be a bad dude deep down, that was an insensitive thing to say and a sincere apology is warranted. Or, again, to at least shut up about it all.
Kogan seems far too dense to do that. The manager was recently on MMA Fighting’s MMA Hour and went out of his way to insist that both he and Diaz are offering no apologies.
“Nate doesn’t feel remorse for what he said,” Kogan told MMA Fighting.”I don’t feel remorse for what he said. I don’t feel remorse for defending what [Diaz] said or elaborating on what he said. Because it was not a homophobic statement. It was not intended to offend homosexuals. We weren’t even talking about homosexuals. One can debate the multiple uses of this term. We can sit here and debate in the English language, there’s a lot of words that mean a lot of different things, but whatever. As it is, it wasn’t intended to be used the way people tried to twist the way it was being used. So therefore, what does he have to feel bad about?”
Yes, Mike, we can sit here and “debate in the English language,” which makes sense because that’s the language we’re using, and it is true that there are “lots of words that mean a lot of different things.” None of that seems relevant in any way to the discussion at hand, though.
“If we would have made a homophobic statement, or a statement that was clearly intended to insult homosexuals, that’s one thing,” Kogan went on, unbelievably.
“You come out and say, ‘Hey, you know what, I’m really sorry it hurt people. We didn’t mean to do that.’ But to me, and this is just my philosophy, and I’m sure it’s going to be disagreed with by many people. This is how I think, and how Nate thinks. The mere fact that there is a protocol to deal with these crisis situation implies its lack of sincerity.”
Like all of Kogan’s statements, the above one deserves a second read-through, if only for how unintentionally funny it is. Kogan actually says that, if you say something that is “clearly intended to insult homosexuals,” then you should go out and disingenuously apologize for hurting people, lying by saying, “we didn’t mean to do that.”
Kogan misses a couple key points — if you hurt people, it doesn’t matter much if you intended to or not. Also, no one is asking for false apologies from Diaz or, now, Kogan.
Mike, you aren’t waging some continued war against b.s. What folks are hoping for is some recognition that, intended or not, Diaz insulted and hurt people, and some basic consideration of that fact.
You know, because he’s an adult and all.
From his public statements thus far, it seems unlikely that Kogan will change his mind about the need for reflection and apologies. For the sake of Diaz’s career, however, we hope that he changes his approach to managing the public relations of his clients.
Maybe we’re judging Kogan prematurely. Mike, if you want to come here and, “in the English language,” actually discuss these issues with folks willing to ask you serious questions, we’ll welcome it.
If you’re interested in saying something different or better explaining yourself and your client, we’re interested. Because, lashing out at others and not taking responsibility for hurtful actions is kind of a bitch move, you know?