Yes, Peter Schaffer, Gay Slurs Are Offensive

Ignorance is seldom a valid excuse for, really, anything, even if it happens to be the pretext most often invoked when someone employs a term that offends a group of people.

What has to be among the flimiest examples of this cop-out comes from Peter Schaffer, the agent and lawyer for suspended running back Larry Johnson, who brought heat (and a $213,000 loss in pay) upon himself early this week by referring to a heckler on Twitter with a gay slur.

Is Schaffer using the threadbare line that Johnson didn't intend to insult anyone and is actually deeply regretful over the incident? Nope. Instead, he's claiming that neither he nor Johnson knew the term was offensive. Which is interesting, considering Johnson's usage was clearly meant to be derogatory.

"We know the N-word is unacceptable, that's not disputable -- but f*g? I'm learning that there's a segment of our society that finds it offensive and that it should not be used. I didn't realize that, but I do know now..."

And that's the part of the public service ad where the star swoops by the "The More You Know" graphic.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.