Joy Reid has slammed the NFL as a “modern gladiator spectacle” following Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest and says players “have put their health and safety at risk”.
- MSNBC host Joy Reid described soccer as a “gladiator spectacle.”
- Reid hinted that the NFL could have stopped playing sooner after Hamlin’s accident
- She said the injury raised questions about America’s obsession with football
MSNBC host Joy Reid on Tuesday attacked the NFL, calling it a brutal “modern gladiator extravaganza” that shows a lack of care for player welfare.
Her comments came as she asked how long it took tournament organizers to halt play after Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field Monday night and was in critical condition.
“A horrific injury on the field raises new questions about America’s obsession with the violent spectacle of professional football,” she said during her Jan. 3 show, The ReidOut.
“It’s another tragic reminder of the inherent violence of sport and the humanity of young men who put their health and safety at risk for the NFL’s modern day gladiator spectacle.”
MSNBC host Joy Reid described soccer as a “gladiator spectacle” during her show The ReidOut on Tuesday.
It took the NFL about an hour after Hamlin’s collapse to officially suspend play on Monday
Reid also hosted William Rhoden on her show, author of 40 Million Dollar Slaves, a book that examines how African American athletes are at the center of modern entertainment, culture and the lucrative sports industry.
“One of the things that people have been thinking about a lot,” Reid said, “is the concern that the NFL in general has for these players’ bodies.
“It’s a violent sport, it’s a brutal sport in a lot of ways. What do you think it took a long time for this game to stop?”
Also on her show was cardiologist Bernard Ashby, who discussed the nature of Hamlin’s injury and told the host that the accidental accident could happen to anyone — even someone with a healthy heart.
It took the NFL about an hour after Hamlin’s collapse to officially suspend the game while league executives gathered information and communicated with the umpire, coaches and the NFL Players Association.
Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field Monday night and was revived by medics
Hamlin collapses, falls backwards and lies motionless on the floor
The rare injury occurs when something makes contact with the chest wall just as the lower chambers of the heart are refilling with blood. The impact then causes a rapid and disorganized contraction of the heart’s lower chambers, preventing the heart from supplying blood to the rest of the body. The window for this is only 20 milliseconds, making commotio cordis incredibly rare. Globally, only 30 people suffer the injury each year, and only about 200 cases have been reported among Americans. It has previously been observed in young baseball or hockey players receiving a hit from a baseball or hockey puck in the center of their chest
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field Monday night and was revived by medics, but updates have been positive in the days since as his ventilator was reduced from 100 per cent to 50 per cent late Tuesday.
Hamlin collapsed after colliding with Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins and was rushed to the hospital after receiving emergency medical treatment at the stadium.
Doctors believe the blow to the star’s chest disrupted his heart’s pumping mechanism, disrupted the flow of blood around his body and shut down his brain.
Experts speculate that this may have happened during a vulnerable moment in the heart’s electrical cycle, triggering a condition called “commotio cordis.”
Reid’s comments come as fans have urged the NFL to revise its rules on uniforms in the days since the accident, arguing that players are capable of using the hard body armor as a weapon.