In August 2020, Brian Urlacher sparked controversy by criticizing NBA players for protesting the Jacob Blake shooting, comparing it unfavorably to Brett Favre playing through personal tragedy. He called Blake “a dude reaching for a knife” and also liked a post supporting Kyle Rittenhouse, which drew major backlash.
On First Take, Max Kellerman used Urlacher as an example of someone consuming “low-quality information” from a “Fox News silo.” Stephen A. Smith got heated and shut it down — telling Kellerman to stop generalizing, pointing out that CNN and MSNBC have bias too, and saying flat out he didn’t want that kind of one-sided political commentary on the show.
Max
“He’s susceptible to low-quality information it seems to me,” Kellerman said of Urlacher.
“If you exist in a Fox News silo or a Facebook silo of extreme right wing propaganda, what you will notice, and by the way this even makes its way into the mainstream. When a Black man is killed by law enforcement, the stories that come out about him, especially with those silos with low-quality information, paint him as a very bad person. And focus on, even if he was in commission of a crime at the moment he was shot, focus on the worst aspects of their lives, and dehumanize them,” he explained.
“Whereas Kyle Rittenhouse, white militia, 17-year-old kid, drove to Kenosha and killed two people, in cold blood, two protesters,” Kellerman added. “In cold blood, including the second person, who tried to stop him from killing more people, and drove all the way home and was arrested the next day. Finally, the cops were practically aiding him, they gave him water when they first saw him.”
Smith: “You know you’ve got to be careful about generalizing. When you talk about low-quality information, you’ve got to be specific about that. Excuse me, just like you brought up Fox News – there are people that could look at CNN or MSNBC and they’re going to have their opinions about those networks.”
Kellerman: “No, this is not an issue of opinion, Stephen A. I’m talking about independent fact-checking organizations and the quality of the information…”
Smith: “Max…Max… Max, you’re not right. Hold on. No, no. We listened to you! We heard you, alright! But the point is do you know that Brian Urlacher got that information from Fox News? Do you know that? How do you know what television network he was watching? That’s the point….”
Kellerman: “No, I didn’t, and I didn’t say he did.”
Smith: “Don’t even bring it up. You said low-quality information, you mentioned Fox News. I watch them all, I watch them all….”
Kellerman: “No but I saw certain facts, certain facts that he was incorrect about, including [Jacob Blake] reached for the knife, because that’s where it’s framed in low-quality information news silos.”
Smith: “Listen, I saw ‘certain facts’ everywhere. There are a multitude of outlets…. we heard you. See, that’s your problem! Cause you like to talk and then what you don’t want to do is hear the other point, because you want your point to be stuck with everybody.”
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