Cam Newton urges athlete-led media not to beefs for clicks: ‘Talk about the take, not the person’

As Draymond Green and Austin Rivers engaged in the latest drummed-up athlete media beef this week, Cam Newton used the opportunity to offer a broader commentary — and warning — about all athlete-hosted content.

While Newton is certainly liable to his fair share of drama and beef and isn’t afraid to clash with other hosts online or in mainstream media, he believes the barbs thrown back and forth by Green and Rivers show a larger problem among athletes who talk about sports.

“What we are witnessing here is the opportunities for player-led media to showcase itself. We’ve always wanted to be more than just athletes. We always felt like we were qualified to speak about the sport,” Newton said on his podcast, 4th and 1. “But ladies and gentleman, boys and girls … understand, if this is what we want, this is what you’re going to keep getting. If you have players talking about players and other players critiquing players, it’s going to be this same dog and pony show.”

The problem, Newton said, is that athletes rely too heavily on beef to generate interest in their work, and that in doing so, they also squash other perspectives in an unhealthy way.

“That’s what you’re going to keep getting from these athlete-led platforms who take offense to what’s said,” Newton said. “But to the athletes, you have to understand, you’ve gotta be able to have diversity in your content. Because if you’re just going back and forth saying, ‘I, I, I’, ‘me, me, me,’ that’s not a sustainable recipe, brother.”

Throughout his tenure in media as a podcast host and ESPN contributor, Newton has consistently explored the dynamics between athletes and media. Newton knows a thing or two about facing criticism; when he played, Newton was one of the most scrutinized quarterbacks in sports history. But more recently, Newton has preached the value of diverse viewpoints in media.

On Wednesday’s 4th and 1, Newton argued that traditional sports media deserves a seat at the table even as athletes encroach on the industry, giving the audience the ability to pick and choose the perspectives they consume. When Green and Rivers try to one-up each other under the pretense that one of them is more worthy to give an opinion than the other, Newton said, it undermines the ability of all athletes to have a voice.

“I just think we have to be extremely mindful, because it’s a lot of alpha energy that’s talking into these mics, where it’s like, come on,” he said. “I’ve been guilty too … (but) it’s all entertainment. But now you’ve got Austin Rivers and Draymond Green, it’s a lot of personal attacks.”

Newton’s point certainly is refreshing for anyone who is tired of athletes who transfer locker-room spitting contests to their podcasts and shows. And it also is generally uplifting to others like him trying to rise to the top of the YouTube game or get in somewhere like ESPN, even if it sounds like criticism.

The point is to make entertaining, informative content, not to establish superiority over the competition.

“Talk about the take, not the person,” Newton said.