Before the New England Patriots faced their final opponent of the preseason, Cam Newton faced more criticism — this time about the choice of music he listens to.
Scott Zolak, who played eight seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins, urged Newton to “turn off the rap music” and stay focused. His comments were met with heavy backlash.
“I’d turn off the rap music, first of all, because I think it’s distracting for Cam here,” Zolak said while analyzing Thursday’s practice, which was Newton’s first practice of the week after missing five days due to COVID protocols. “Because in between every throw, he’s dancing. … He makes a throw and then — the music’s still cranking here, I know you can hear it faintly in the background here … He can’t help himself.”
On Sunday, Scott Zolak apologized for his comments.
“It was Cam’s first day back at practice, and we had some issues back in studio, so (cohosts) Hardy and Adam were back there. I was trying to evaluate Cam through the process of his first couple throws, and I blamed music for being a distraction in his preparation in between a couple throws that he had. And I reference the genre of rap that was being played. That’s something I know that’s drawn attention to for being racially insensitive.
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I’m sorry for that comment. I didn’t need to make that comment. I should not even ever bring any sort of music into play, because I have no clue what’s going on in a player’s head. It’s been a rough last couple days here, and I wanted to do this on air. It’s the first time I’ve been on air since Thursday; Friday was an off-day, we traveled down here (Saturday) and I didn’t want to do a call-in or anything like that. Chris (Gasper), I’m sorry if my comments offended you personally. … I’m passionate about this team, the position. Playing the position, that’s basically the only position I watch, really, in practice,” he said, per NESN.
Zolak said on Sunday that he spoke to Newton about the comments.
“I did this morning, yeah, and that’s one thing, I wanted to talk to him before I talked about this, to let him know,” Zolak said. “I got a chance to talk to him, and Cam’s nothing but class. Great guy. He handled it perfect. I mean, that’s between me and him, so that’s where I stand by it.”
