Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett has been spending a lot of time on his YouTube channel lately. On MartyBTV, you can find Bennett rapping about cereal, talking about video games or just dancing around his living room. Most of the videos are pretty funny and just shows a lighter side of an NFL player with his family. But one of Bennett's recent videos with his brother called "Black Olympics" has some Black folks crying foul. In the video, Bennett and his brother Michael, who is on the Seattle Seahawks roster, compete against each other in eating chicken, drinking Kool-Aid, and eating watermelon."Me and all my brothers were in the kitchen and as I looked around, I noticed we were eating every stereotype. We got chicken, kool aid, watermelon, we might as well do a Black Olympics. That's what happened," Bennett told the Michael Irvin show this week. "I don't really think it's offensive. It depends on your sense of humor and how you look at things. We were just having fun and it was very funny for me and my brothers, when I look at it I just can't stop laughing. If someone takes offense, I apologize. That wasn't my intention. It was just us having fun. Some people like what you do and some people don't. Always in life, anything you do, someone is going to have a different opinion than what you have."
FOXSports.com columnist Jason Whitlock already went off on Bennett and the video (even though Whitlock himself was criticized for eating ribs on camera) and CBSSports.com columnist Mike Freeman took the Cowboy to task as well. Check out the video and tell us what you think:
Quibian Salazar-Moreno covers the sports world for Black Voices. He's a freelance journalist based in Denver, Colorado that also covers the video game industry, iPhone games world, the music industry and a bunch of other things. Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/q_salazar 
Comments: (254)
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By: GSA on 7/15/2009 1:08PM
I'm a lifelong Cowboys fan and players like MB disturb me. He and others like him are one of the reasons why the team hasn't won a playoff game in 12 years. They concentrate more on self promotion and their antics rather than executing plays on the field. Looking at teams like the Steelers (whom I detest) they don't have players like this. They don't make the news and aren't out for self. That's probably why they've won more championships than any other franchise.
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By: coachgreywolf on 7/15/2009 8:11PM
You need to lighten up. I have been involved in football since the mid-60's as a player, coach, and trainer. When we take FUN out of the game it becomes just another job. It is absolutely RIDICULOUS to make the analogy that his 'self promotion' and goofing around caused the Cowboys to lose. Please, football is a GAME, regardless how much we pay the players. It's because of attitudes such as yours that it has become big business. Lastly, to play at the NFL level, a player MUST have a high opinion of hisself. Self promoting is wrong when players sign balls after TD's such as TO. For him to show hisself and family being themselves on You Tube is just a guy being a kid and having fun.
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By: Gary on 7/15/2009 8:31PM
What I saw was a couple of young guys having some very harmless fun, hanging out with the family, eating the kind of food that just about every American loves no matter what race, color, or creed. This video makes me believe that we won't be seeing either of these brothers doing a perp walk any time soon. Congratulations to their parents.
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By: rebellious1 on 7/15/2009 8:52PM
GSA you're too easy. Google up which player from which team made national headlines for declining an opportunity to go with his team to visit the president. Hint: He plays for the St__l_rs. Cowboys suck go Patriots.
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By: Mike on 7/15/2009 9:15PM
Wow...has it gotten this bad that we have to slam him for joking about stereotypes? As a white person, am I now supposed to turn my head when I see black people when I hit KFC? Should I scream at an irishman if I see him drinking whiskey or eating a potato? God forbid I come across a jewish person eating a matzo ball!
Grow up and get off the political correctness wagon. When we can actually laugh at our own stereotypes is when we've finally evolved as a society.
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By: Robbie on 7/15/2009 9:49PM
Mike: As a person of Scottish heritage, I refuse to perpetuate the stereotype, so I have made a lifelong commitment to NEVER eat haggis (look it up)!
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By: Ramona on 7/15/2009 9:58PM
People need to get over themselves. I'm black and saw nothing wrong with what he did. I thought it was hilarious. I saw a man at home having fun with his family.
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By: 2GunnzUp on 7/26/2009 5:03PM
if you think that the only reason the Cowboys aren't winning playoff games is that they are posting things on YouTube...in the offseason...You must not be a real Cowboys fan, cuz you couldn't have watched a game last season. I'm doubting if you've ever played football before either. Because if you had done either, you would know that something as trivial as that has nothing to do with football. That's like saying if you weren't on here whining about what Martellus Bennett is doing on YouTube,when Tony Romo updates his FaceBook page,or when Marion Barber is Tweeting about the last dump he took, you would be CEO at your job. Doub it.
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By: reece on 7/15/2009 10:27PM
When is having every day clean fun a problem. Now if they were caught with drug or guns they would be asking why don't they learn from past errors or they don't need to go back old home town hang outs. But they are two guys that let you into there world of what people really do when they young and having fun this the food that I grew up on and still eat so the next time I'm at the sports bar on wing nite with my white friend should say they can't have wings because they are only for blacks.
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By: Alindsey on 7/16/2009 12:43AM
You really need to get a life! What he does off the field is not why the Cowboys don't win a playoff game. Tony Romo is why the Cowboys don't win a playoff game, well, that and Jerry Jones.
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