D.L. Hughley Compares Tiger Controversy To OJ Murder Case; Is Race A Factor?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
accesshollywood.com

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The number of alleged mistresses attached to Tiger Woods continues to grow, with new names making headlines everyday.

But as the Tiger tally climbs, some folks – including comedian D.L. Hughley — are wondering if race has played a role in the coverage of the scandal.

In a new interview with Access Hollywood, Hughley painted a controversial parallel between the Tiger scandal and a notorious murder trial involving a very famous African-American former athlete.

“This is similar to the O.J. [Simpson] trial in that it is race, it is a star athlete and there’s a young blonde woman,” Hughley told Access. “Of course, we don’t have the tragedy of having two people dead, [but] it taps into that visceral reaction with race.”

While it may be an unsettling comparison, Hughley – who hosts New York’s WRKS KISS FM morning show – believes race is, in fact, playing a big part in the world’s reaction to the Tiger sex scandal.

“Would this be an issue if Tiger Woods’ wife had been a woman of color?” Access asked him.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it wouldn’t have galvanized the country, the world primarily, the way that it has if there weren’t components of race, sex, power. I think the idea of a superstar athlete having sex with a woman outside his marriage is so pedestrian, it’s not funny. It happens all the time.”

Adding to the shock and awe of the Tiger controversy is the fact that the figure at the heart of it all had worked so hard to carefully construct an image of a star athlete and family man – an image that has now come crashing down.

“Everything Tiger did, I’ve done. I know men who have done. And to hurt someone like that is a very painful process,” Hughley continued. “But to have to do that with the eyes of the world upon you is that much more difficult I would imagine.”

In his analysis, Hughley refers to his own past transgressions during the early part of his 24-year marriage to wife LaDonna while raising their three children.

“It’s a tough, tough thing. I think that he will be a better person because of it, but I resent the fact that a lot of people are telling him how he should do it,” he added.

And as far as the reaction of his listeners on his morning show program, Hughley said it has been all over the map.

“Some of them are white people who are happy because a black man dominated a sport where he traditionally hadn’t, and there are some black people who are happy this has happened to him because he is a black man who some feel hasn’t been black enough,” Hughley contends.