Tom Brady uses insulting term to describe Josh Allen’s play

As Tom Brady continues to transition from quarterback to broadcaster, he’s still learning which words aren’t fit for national television.

Brady and play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt were tasked with calling the Buffalo Bills-Seattle Seahawks matchup Sunday afternoon for Fox. And while attempting to boast about Josh Allen during the first quarter of the broadcast, Brady used a questionable adjective to describe Buffalo’s quarterback.

“How you communicate to everybody and integrate new players becomes a great challenge for a quarterback like Josh, who has really lit the league on fire since he’s been in it,” Brady said. “Sometimes he played like a spaz, like a grade-schooler on a sugar high, but now he’s controlled the chaos. He’s like a storm coming into town and you don’t want that storm coming into this town.”

“Spaz” was a strange choice by Brady. It’s a term that has been deemed wildly offensive in the UK  because of its history as an ableist slur for people with disabilities, especially cerebral palsy. The term isn’t considered quite as offensive in the United States, but it’s still meant as an insult to describe clumsiness, stupidity or physical ineptness.

Two years ago, Beyoncé removed the word from her song “Heated” after receiving criticism from disability activists. Lizzo similarly had to change a lyric in one of her songs after receiving the same criticism.

Brady was also linked to the term in 2015, albeit to no fault of his own. When the NFL’s report on the Deflategate scandal was released, it included a text exchange between team equipment assistant John Jastremski and locker room attendant Jim McNally. The colorful text exchange garnered attention for what they said about Brady, but Jastremski also wrote “Omg! Spaz” at one point.

The normally buttoned-up seven-time Super Bowl champion has been praised for seeming more comfortable in the booth in recent weeks. Although he may have gotten too comfortable for a moment Sunday afternoon when talking about Josh Allen.

[Fox]