Cam Newton is in a reflective space.
During an episode of “Funky Friday” with “Snowfall” actress Gail Bean, the former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP couldn’t hold back his emotions when he heard Bean describe one of the more uncomfortable situations in her career: an editor working on her film masturbating to it. The editor was eventually hired to work on “P-Valley,” where Bean plays Roulette, but was later fired from the show.
The story and others struck a nerve with Newton, who couldn’t believe Bean had endured that and similar experiences as a Black woman in Hollywood.
“I’m really trying to rehabilitate my relationship with Black women,” Newton began around the 32-minute mark. “When I have conversations like this, the only thing I can say is, ‘I’m sorry.’”
He continued, “I know the weight of my voice now, and I’m learning more. Contrary to what a person may believe, I’m not perfect, man. I am trying to do something that I deem as cool. God has given me the ability to enjoy talking to people. And there’s been things that I know has set us back with the masculine-feminine relationship in our culture.”
Newton had come under fire in prior years for his comments regarding women, relationships and marriage. In 2022, he made comments during an appearance on the “Million Dollaz Worth Of Game” podcast, attempting to differentiate between a “traditional woman” and a “bad b-tch.” In a response video, Newton said that the eighty-second clip was taken out of context from his full interview and that he didn’t have time to expand on his thoughts or go in-depth.
“The whole premise of my tone and how I was talking was this: You can’t expect so much from a person and give so little. No matter if you’re the breadwinner in your family dynamic as a man or you’re the breadwinner in your family dynamic as a woman,” he said at the time. “You’ve gotta uphold your end of the bargain.”
Fast-forward years later and Newton, in recognition of how a Black male-female dynamic may share similar qualities in cities such as Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Hollywood and more, is apologizing while acknowledging that “uncomfortable conversations” move things forward. He also cited his three daughters as a significant reason for his change of mind, and if they encountered a similar form of sexual harassment as Bean did.
“What that would ignite in me is something that would not be healthy for nobody,” Newton said. “So, I take this time to apologize publicly, but also to say I’m a work in progress.”
