Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers saw his season come to an end in the Sugar Bowl last night. But despite the loss in the CFP Semifinals, he’s still getting a lot of attention after the game.
During a 37-31 loss to the Washington Huskies, Ewers celebrated a Longhorns touchdown with a dance move seen frequently in the sports world. Made popular this year by the LSU Tigers football team, the “Rock ya hips” move involves waving your hands and shaking your hips at the same time.
Here’s Tigers wide receiver Malik Nabers doing it earlier this season.
MALIK NABERS WIDE OPEN FOR SIX!@LSUFootball on top early! pic.twitter.com/ABCuSUkHZ3
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 5, 2023
And here’s Ewers doing it last night.
Quinn Ewers is having fun
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 2, 2024
pic.twitter.com/2YSL45J6Nf
It’s fitting that Ewers did it in that matchup, since the Sugar Bowl was played in New Orleans, LA, which is not far from LSU’s campus.
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The quarterback isn’t the only high-profile sports star to do that celebration while playing in The Pelican State. On December 26, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant did the same dance after finishing an alley-oop in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans (a road game for Memphis).
AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/hwVXbU5UY7
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) December 27, 2023
You might be thinking, “So what? A bunch of athletes are doing the same celebration after big plays. Where are you going with this?”
Well, there’s outrage on social media about the different responses to Morant’s and Ewers’ celebration. And most of it involves racist assumptions.
Morant got publicly criticized for doing his dance, because people thought he was pretending to wave handguns arounds (which is not true, according to the creator of the dance). By contrast, most people responded positively to Ewers’ celebration. Naturally, social media thought this meant that the media was discriminating against Morant and giving Ewers a pass because of their respective skin colors.
ja morant: “lock that thug up” “he’s learned nothing”
— drg. (@drgfromnyc) January 2, 2024
whoever tf quinn ewers is: “he’s just having fun” https://t.co/5ahdl8CBRs
Quinn Ewers vs. Ja Morant https://t.co/Z8vHujXxVJ pic.twitter.com/LA3I90yAte
— Crinkle 🍟 (@CrinkleCuck) January 2, 2024
https://t.co/HSPKtTseh6 pic.twitter.com/npDNEIYSy9
— RB (@RyB_311) January 2, 2024
At first blush, this does seem inconsistent. But as is usually the case with race-oriented conversations, we need more context.
Thankfully, we have some.
Morant waved a gun around on Instagram Live not once, but twice within the span of two months. It earned him a 25-game suspension to start the year, which was more than justified given the extent to which the NBA went to try to help him before his second incident. That explains why he got some flack after busting out the dance move, even though these people also made a bad judgement call about the elements of the dance.
So even if you operate under the assumption that these men were pretending to waive handguns (which again, isn't true), it would explain the difference in reaction with Ewers. The quarterback doesn't have the trouble past with firearms that Morant does, so that would also disprove the notion that Ewers got favorable treatment.
Again, these people operated off of faulty information about a key element of the story (the dance), and then infused their racist worldview on the situation. It's a fault narrative on all counts, but isn't that true with most race-baiting stories?
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