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ESPN contributor Rob Parker questions RGIII’s blackness

Posted at 8:18 PM, Dec 13, 2012
and last updated 2012-12-13 22:03:59-05

ESPN contributor Rob Parker sparked quite a controversy across social media with his comments about Robert Griffin III on the network’s ‘First Take’ show on Thursday.

Griffin has received much praise for how he’s handled many questions about being an African-American quarterback.

However Parker surprised his fellow panelists by asking “My question, which is just a straight honest question: is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?”

Parker went on to say:  “I want to find about him,” Parker said. “I don’t know because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancee. Then there was all this talk about he’s a Republican, which there’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods was like, ‘I’ve got black skin, but don’t call me black.’ So people wondered about Tiger Woods.”

A spokesman for the ESPN told CBSSports.comthat Parker’s comments “were inappropriate and we are evaluating our next steps.”