Sports Radio Interviews

Martellus Bennett: ‘What I Do In My Spare Time Is What I Do. If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Watch It.’

Former Texas A&M tight end and current reserve for the Dallas Cowboys, Martellus Bennett, is in hot water once more. Last year, it was his attitude during HBO’s documentary series Hard Knocks during the Cowboys training camp. This time, the spotlight is back on him for a recent video he created then shared on YouTube titled ‘The Black Olympics’ (video posted after the jump). Some folks took offense to the video, including prominent columnist Jason Whitlock. Bennett joined The Michael Irvin Show on ESPN Radio Dallas to talk about where the idea for the video came from, how he would like to respond to those who are highly critical of him and the video, and how he had no intentions of offending anybody, only to get a laugh or two with his brothers.

On how the idea for the ‘Black Olympics’ came about:

“Well, basically, me and my brothers, we were all sitting around my kitchen and I just looked around for a few minutes and noticed that we were eating every stereotype. I was like, man, we got chicken, we got Kool-Aid, we got watermelon. I was like, we might as well do a Black Olympics and see who could do it the fastest. And that’s just how it happened.”

On how he would respond to Jason Whitlock’s commentary about the situation:

“I mean, I don’t think it’s offensive. It depends on your sense of humor and how you look at things. We were just having fun…The way I look at it, when I look at it, I just can’t stop laughing. So if somebody thinks it was offensive, I apologize, but that was not my intention. But at the same time, it was just us having fun and some people like what you do, some people don’t. That’s always in life, I mean, anything you do, somebody’s going to have a different opinion on it.”

On what he would like to say to those who think he’s just trying to get attention:

“I mean, I’m going to get criticized regardless. I don’t do it to get criticized. Or people say it’s me fighting for attention or something like that, but it’s not. I think that as the world is trying to put that on…I think I’m the type of personality that they can try to put that on. But that’s not my intentions or anything like that. It’s just me being me. That’s why I have MartyBTV, for the fans to see what type of person I am outside of football. I mean, we do football during the day, we’re on a break right now. We’ve got a lot of spare time on our hands right now. I just like to have fun, make these YouTube videos…We’re just out there having fun, that’s what we do all day.”

On his response to those who say he should at least wait until he’s done something in this league before making such a splash with his behavior off the field:

“I mean every day I stpe on the field, I do something meaningful. Whether it’s making a block – I’m just a blue-collar guy. I do a lot of stuff that I don’t get credit for. So basically, every day I work on my game and every day I become a better player. So I’d just say, say what you want to say, but y’all don’t see me working hard everyday in practice or what I do outside working out. So, they just think I’m home all day doing nothing – which is none of their business actually. I mean, they fans, that’s what fans do – they worry about everything we do when it’s not football season. Don’t worry about me until it is football season. What I do in my spare time is what I do. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”

Listen here to Bennet on ESPN Radio in Dallas

Tags: Dallas Cowboys, ESPN Radio Dallas, Jason Whitlock, Martellus Bennet, Martellus Bennet Black Olympics Video, Michael Irvin Show, race in sports, racial stereotypes