49ers Training Video Used Racist JokesSAN FRANCISCO - An in-house video meant to prepare 49ers players for dealing with the media backfired on the NFL team Wednesday after it was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The 15-minute film, featuring racist jokes, lesbian soft-porn and topless blondes, features the team's public relations director, Kirk Reynolds, impersonating San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in the mayor's office and other city scenes.
Now the mayor and the city's gay leaders are outraged, the team's owners are embarrassed and Reynolds is leaving the organization. The Chronicle described the film and published an image showing Reynolds with the half-naked women under a screaming headline on Wednesday.
Reynolds called it a "terrible mistake."
"I'm more sorry than anybody," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday night. "My intention was to deliver a message important to our team. Certainly the execution and my decision-making were way out of line. I deeply regret it."
Reynolds said he made the video to coach players on handling media questions in diverse San Francisco — and never meant it for public consumption.
The video was shown to players last August during training camp in Santa Clara, where it was part of a diversity workshop.
"I certainly offended people and I never intended to offend anybody," Reynolds said. "Anybody who knows me, that's not a reflection of who I am. I did something for a certain audience that got out of hand. ... It was contradictory to my values and beliefs and contradictory to the team's values. I completely apologize to anybody who was offended."
General manager Terry Donahue showed a snippet to team owner John York in January, just one day before he was fired, and sent a copy to York at York's request in March. Team lawyer Ed Goines got the tape about three weeks ago, the Chronicle reported.
Team owners Denise and John York on Wednesday called the video offensive, inexcusable and "absolutely contradictory to the ideals and values of the
San Francisco 49ers."
"Ostensibly, the video was created to raise player awareness about how to deal with the media and to demonstrate by example how poor conduct can unintentionally make news," the Yorks' statement said. "Unfortunately, this video is an example in itself."
An NFL statement supported the Yorks' viewpoint.
"We share their view that the video was inappropriate, offensive in every respect, and of no value whatsoever," the league said. "It does not reflect the 49ers' values and traditions or those of the league and its member clubs."
The Yorks didn't address Reynolds' future. Reynolds said he told the team recently he planned to "depart before training camp" to explore other interests, and said this incident would likely speed up the process.
"I'm focusing on dealing with the issue and what I've created," Reynolds said. "I'm going to stand up to what I've done."
Goines said in a statement that the team's executives never reviewed or approved of the video, and has since issued "appropriate discipline to the person or persons responsible."
Reynolds opens the film sitting behind the mayor's desk, then goes to Chinatown, where a 49ers team consultant uses racial slurs about the Chinese community. Next comes a topless, lesbian wedding filmed at a strip club and officiated by Reynolds, again impersonating the mayor.
"I know the courts say we can't do this," Reynolds says before the happy couple engages in heavy petting. "We make our own rules here in San Francisco."
Reynolds then goes to SBC Park, where acting as "mayor" he throws out the opening pitch, then takes a bribe from the catcher, who thanks him for supporting "hookers and booze."
"You do something controversial, you say something controversial, it will have an impact on this team. So remember, be mindful of your actions," Reynolds says, wearing only a towel before joining three topless blondes for a group hug in a strip club's dressing room. "What you do is not only a reflection of yourself. It's a reflection of the San Francisco 49ers."
Newsom — shown the tape by the Chronicle — was not amused.
"It wasn't right to do it to the Asian community, particularly the Chinese community. It was wrong to do it to the gay and lesbian community. It was wrong to exploit women as they were exploited in this video," the mayor told Fox affiliate KTVU on Wednesday. "The video is reprehensible."
The mayor's staff will now insist on seeing the content when it grants requests for filming inside City Hall, said his aide, Peter Ragone.
Leaders of the city's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender community weren't satisfied by the many apologetic statements issued by the team. They claimed the video fits a pattern of discrimination within the organization that dates to homophobic comments by former 49ers running back Garrison Hearst in 2002.
"The 49ers benefit from their relationship with the city," said Thom Lynch, president of the SF LGBT Center, "but they have responded by belittling and ridiculing the diversity of the city."
Coach Mike Nolan, who was left to face the media Wednesday at the 49ers training camp, stressed that the video reflected decisions made by an old "regime," and that York has since put the team in the right direction.
"I will say this: We do a lot of the sensitivity training, and we do it in the right manner. This is an example of how you do not do it," said Nolan, who was hired in January. "That's not what the 49ers will be about."
____
AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this story.
I grew up watching the 49ers and it's just depressing to see the kind of mess the organization has become.
Author
