Philadelphia Radio Personality Calls Eagles Player A 'House Negro'

In the world of sports, lines of what could rightly be called common decency are constantly crossed. When you're playing, when you're coaching, things are said in the heat of the moment that you never could and likely never would utter in polite company. For sports analysts and media personalities, that sporting patois can sometimes bleed out into the sphere of coverage. Usually it's ignored or swept under the rug and we all go on about our business. But sometimes it's just too disgusting to disregard. For Josh Innes of 94 WIP in Philadelphia, there may be no coming back from the phrase he uttered in reference to Philly center Jason Kelce shortly after Doug Pederson's inaugural press conference as head coach of the Eagles.

Here's Innes' exchange on Tuesday with former Eagles player Hollis Thomas, who is black, via Crossing Broad:

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."

Innes inference, that Kelce is the good soldier no matter who the coach is, is not at all off base. Since joining the Eagles Kelce's defended Andy Reid, going so far as to approach protestors outside the Novacare Complex calling for Reid's resignation, and Kelce also went out of his way to defend Chip Kelly numerous times this past season as the Eagles stumbled to a 6-10 record and missed out on the postseason for the second time in Kelly's tenure, albeit in a new and frustratingly inconsistent fashion.

But the means with which Innes chose to call out Kelce, who chose to attend Pederson's press conference, along with linebacker Connor Barwin, by using a pejorative term, is beyond offensive. And it doesn't matter whether Monday marked a day of remembrance for one of our nation's greatest and most influential black minds. It was nauseating no matter when it was uttered.

Innes, of course, apologized later in the show, referring to himself as "the dumbest human being on the planet," though it remains to be seen if this cat can be stuffed back into the racially charged bag.

Kelce also addressed the issue, posting a screenshot on twitter of a message directed toward Innes.