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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: BOOGER on 7/15/2009 9:00PM
MAN DON'T BE SO STUPID;THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN BROTHERS HAVING FUN. NOW IF MB WAS LATE FOR A PRACTICE OR A GAME BECAUSE HE WAS MAKING A YOU TUBE MOVIE,THEN THERE SHOULD BE A PROBLEM OTHER THAN THAT;GET YOUR PANTIES OUT OF A WAD! THERE IS NOTHING DEROGATORY OR DEMANING ABOUT THAT CLIP. SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED A REASON TO BLAME A LOSING SEASON ON SOMETHING. GET A LIFE!
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By: klownmann on 7/15/2009 9:14PM
Bennet brothers I hope you come to Hawaii,we could sure show you guys a good time you guys been brought up the right way thanks to your parents. Like Dr Bill Cosby said It ain't about color or race it's about behavior!
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By: chicagogrammy on 7/15/2009 9:11PM
You'all need to lighten up. What is the harm in 2 brothers having fun and poking fun at stereotypes. I'd rather see these guys at home with their family, playing harmless games for amusement, rather than out in clubs getting into and causing trouble like players from some teams have. They are off duty and just kicking back with the family.
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By: hands of stone on 7/15/2009 9:07PM
Its not that serious and im black.
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By: ben carrick on 7/16/2009 7:31AM
I think its great, he has enough self-confidence to parody the racial stereotype. Similar to the Wayans. Being caucasion, I don't see this as mocking blacks, I see it as mocking our ignorance.
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By: Judy on 7/15/2009 9:11PM
I would much rather see this harmless competition than seeing someone shooting or snorting drugs! Some people search for something to complain about. Just like the ship on the label of Snapple Tea. Who the heck actually thought that was a slave ship?
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By: CJ on 7/15/2009 9:14PM
People need to lighten-up. These guys are just having some fun. There are so many serious and sad things happening in this world, that a couple of guys poking fun at themselves shouldn't even register on anyone's "I take offense to that" scale.
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By: claudia on 7/15/2009 9:18PM
This video is harmless. It is very obvious that Martellus Bennett and his brothers are just having fun. Every race has a stereotype and if you can't have fun with the things you do in your everyday life then what do you live for? We all play around with the bad habits our races have. It's like Mexicans we get associated with tacos, jalapenos, coronas, etc. We have to laugh at each other. When I sit down and watch the Latin Kings of Comedy, even though I have seen it thousands of time I still laugh, why? Because everything George Lopez and Paul Rodrigues and all the other comedians say IS TRUE! This is what makes us. Enjoy life and laugh. Bennett shouldn't have to be a comedian to be able to make fun of himself and his family without being scolded. I am a huge DALLAS COWBOYS fan and I love the fact that one of our players is down to earth in real life. As long as he puts his gameface on during the game, let him be!
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By: klownmann on 7/15/2009 9:41PM
Well said Claudia.
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By: chapro on 7/17/2009 1:20PM
ABSOLUTELY well said Claudia.
I just heard ESPN mention this and they are trying to villainize Bennett as hard as they can to try to milk this story for all it's worth. The video was harmless. This type of self deprecating humor is a demonstration of spiritual maturity, NOT senseless immaturity, as ESPN and the media is trying to make it out to be. I, myself, can be stereotyped as a cornfed country white boy..and was raised on pretty much the same things they were eating and making fun of as well. All we can do is be who we are..and not let the media and over-opinionated windbags like ESPN's Skip Bayless tell us who WE should be...Give me a break......
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