The calamity that has plagued the Philadelphia Eagles for the last two seasons has apparently spread to their corresponding radio personalities.
Josh Innis, fairly well-known personality for Philadelphia sports station SportsRadio 94 WIP, was about to cut to the Philadelphia Eagles’ official introductory press conference for new head coach Doug Pederson, when he had a very interesting exchange with his co-host about Jason Kelce, the Eagles’ center for the last 5 seasons. Kelce was apparently early to the press conference–to help illustrate the ridiculous point Innis was attempting to make, it should be noted that players are not required to attend introductory press conferences and often don’t, opting instead to have their first interaction with their new boss in private–which prompted Innis to compare Kelce, a white male from Cleveland, to the house negroes of slavery times.
Here’s a transcript of the conversation, taken from Crossing Broad (they also provided us with the audio, which you can listen to here):
Innes: “Jason Kelce’s already there, huh? That’s … uh … I’ll give Jason Kelce this, he’s always in character. He never breaks character. His character is: lapdog for whoever the hell the coach is. And he is always … He’s at the press conference, huh? Good for him, bless his heart.”
Thomas: “Actually I don’t really blame him because he’s a guy who wants a job.”
Innes: “Here’s the thing though, right, it’s like this. Let me find a good comparison here. I was watching Malcolm X yesterday, I was in the airport in Memphis watching Malcolm X, and there was a scene where Denzel’s doing the whole thing about the slave and the house negro? Right? And like, the house negro is the guy who’s gonna tell you like, oh he gets to live in the big house with the boss and every time he refers to something that happens in the house it’s ‘our house’ and ‘we’ and everything like that. And then there’s the actual slave that isn’t the house negro that’s just trying to run away. Essentially what you’re getting here is Jason Kelce is the house negro is what I’m trying to convey to you.”
Thomas: *laughter*
Innes: “That’s essentially Jason Kelce’s job: ‘Yessir. Yes boss. Absolutely boss. Yes, sir boss.’ That is Jason Kelce, he is, whoever the head coach is gonna be, he’s gonna be all over that head coach. There’s no arguing, there’s no fussing, there’s no fighting, he’s in with that guy.”
Yes you read correctly. House negroes were often associated as slaves that did their best to align themselves with slave masters to obtain better treatment and privileges, and according to Innis, that’s synonymous with the relationship Jason Kelce is trying to achieve with new coach Doug Pederson.
