TX Radio Host Michael Berry Calls Protesting MU Football Players “Thugs,” Compares Ex-MU President To Neville Chamberlain
Berry: “This Is A Country Built On Merit And Accomplishments And If You Don't Want To Play By Those Rules, You Don't Get To Be On The Team. Shut Up About Race Already.”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
During the November 9 episode of The Michael Berry Show, Texas-based radio host Michael Berry commented on the University of Missouri president's resignation after students claimed the administration was not doing enough to address racial tension on campus. Berry said that by resigning the president was“pandering” to “thugs” who should be grateful for their opportunity and should “shut their mouth and play football.”
Berry claimed the football players' participation in the call for more to be done about racist symbols and comments on campus were a distraction from the team's lackluster on-field performance. Berry criticized both the university president and the football players, saying that the university president resigned because, “The old white man didn't want to be attacked by the young black football players” and claimed the players should be more grateful for the “opportunity to try out for the NFL wearing the University of Missouri uniform.”
Berry continued saying Missouri has “a problem of culture, a problem of priorities, and you got a problem of pandering.” Berry also warned that Missouri's reaction to the protests were like “Neville Chamberlain [who] became the illustration of what is wrong when you pander to a bully” -- citing the British Prime Minister often criticized for unsuccessfully appeasing Hitler in the lead up to World War II.
MICHAEL BERRY: So now the president of the university has resigned. Now, think of the message this sends. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. The football players at the University of Missouri? The football players decide who the president will be? An institution of higher learning -- you're doing research on molecular biology that may lead to a cure for cancer. You're doing aeronautical research, you're doing chemical research, molecular biology research. You're educating how many thousand people? And you're letting a few thugs decide who your president will be?
Good, you do have a problem. But it's far bigger than the creative shaping of poop by somebody on your campus. You got a major problem with your priorities. If you can't rein in a few football players to shut their mouth and play football, else they lose their scholarship? You've got a real problem on your hands. You've got a problem of culture. You've got a problem of priorities, and you've got a problem of pandering.
And let me tell you something. As Neville Chamberlain became the illustration of what is wrong when you pander to a bully, there will be no peace in your time at the University of Missouri. This will not be the last time this group of thugs flexes their muscles. You can rest assured on that. When you pander to a bully you empower that bully, you feed that bully. He will grow bigger and stronger. And bullies are only effective when they have power to exercise. There will come another day and you will face off against that bully in a bigger battlefield. You've just made a huge mistake. The country continues to make a huge mistake on university campuses, workplaces, schools, the military. This is a country built on merit and accomplishments and if you don't want to play by those rules, you don't get to be on the team. Shut up about race already.
Berry has criticized civil rights protests by mocking the Black Lives Matter movement in a weekly segment satirizing shooting victims in Chicago in his attempt to prove his claim that “black lives matter, just not to black people.” In addition, he has previously attacked African-American UCLA students who called for improved diversity on campus, calling them “pack animals” and saying they need to “get the F over themselves.”