Politics and sport are akin to oil and water. Just don’t mix together. There’ve been several instances of athletes and coaches letting their partisan individual ideologies get the better of them. It sometimes comes from the right place, with people wishing to utilize their platform for better. Other times, it rears its ugly head. The repercussions in both cases subsequently hamper their profession. One College Football coach is going through a similar ordeal. One fit of rage has transpired into a whole lot of trouble. Even tennis legend Martina Navratilova has chimed in to voice her disgust.

Brett Peabody allowed his Republican persuasion to seep into the DMs of a left-leaning media member, and pandemonium ensued. Peabody is the coach of Long Beach City College. This unassuming program has been brought into the midst of controversy. The footprint of Brett Peabody’s misdemeanors has crossed over to the tennis realm too. The journalist on the receiving end of his scathing remarks, Aaron Rupar, revealed the exact contents of what was said.

Aaron Rupar’s X feed is scattered with political reporting, and Peabody clearly took offense. He took to the DMs and wrote, “You’re done, you sorry fascist scumbag, hope you get held accountable for the bulls*** that (you’ve) spread. Justice is on the horizon, kiddo,” This was quickly turned on its head as Rupar projected a screenshot of this onto his 905k followers. “I get lots of threatening DMs, but I usually don’t get them from head coaches of college football programs, “ he wrote. This naturally gained traction online, and its consequences are knocking on Brett Peabody’s door. 

Martina Navratilova caught wind of this and took to X herself to express her disdain. “Wow. Coach setting quite the example for his players…” she wrote, alongside a flurry of spiteful emojis. This was in reply to a new wrinkle in this story. In the wake of Peabody’s DMs coming to light he was interviewed by the Long Beach Post, the contents of which are dissected below. Mind you, the report says this is somebody who’s delved into conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and the attack on the Capitol, too, via his socials. 

Aaron Rupar relayed a link to this interview via his social media, saying, “A Long Beach college football coach sent me a threatening DM from his main account. I posted about it and it’s getting some pickup from local publications.” Goes to show how one lapse of judgement in the modern world can snowball into problems of epic proportions. So, how did Brett Peabody respond to the sentiments echoed by Martina Navratilova?

He even went down the damage control route, albeit to mixed results. Peabody issued an apology. Not to Aaron Rupar, mind you. But just generically, rueing his actions. It’s evident that this was done to save face with his employers. Rupar even said, “[Peabody is] apologizing for bringing negative attention to the school but not for his message to me. He certainly hasn’t apologized to me.” With the case against him stacked tall and pretty airtight, here’s Brett Peabody’s side of the story.

Brett Peabody tries to save face from criticism but largely squanders the chance

“[The message] was clearly not the best decision,” said Peabody. He spoke about how it brought about unnecessary attention to the school. Peabody labelled his decision to send the DM to Rupar “dumb”. Sensationally, he’s still not fully owing up to the mistake. 

Peabody said he wants to offer a “wholehearted apology to the college and the college community.” As aforementioned, it’s conspicuous that he was scared for his job security and hence came out to address matters. It’s not too apparent that Brett Peabody feels remorseful. This is evidenced by what he proceeded to tell the Long Beach Post. Although he lamented the use of “harsh and regrettable” language to get his point across, he’s standing by the underlying “criticism”. Peabody even called Rupar “unprofessional”. “It was not a threat in any way, shape or form,” he said. “If you read it, I’m not sure how it could be construed as a threat. … I’d like to see journalists held at a higher standard.”

The report also said, “An LBCC spokesperson said the school is aware of the situation and characterized it as a ‘pending personnel matter.’” It’s fair to assume Brett Peabody’s capacity as head coach is not at risk. However, this wouldn’t go down well with the powers that be. Representing the school in a bad light for figures like Martina Navratilova to see is an indictment. It remains to be seen what kind of reprimand Brett Peabody faces.