Penalized for perception
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All eyes were on Josh Lewis’ sexually explicit video his sophomore year. But after many portrayed the ex-football player as the criminal, Lewis became the victim of racism.
By Bryan Roy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
[The back story: Someone once told me you'll always remember your first death threat. Well, this was mine. I told Mom not to read the comments on this story.]
Wild pool party. Alcohol by the gallons. He’s fondling his girlfriend without much regard for those watching.
Hand up her skirt. Minding his own business. Unknowingly, he’s targeted for off-field mayhem that every athlete at every level fears the most.
From a few feet away, some complete stranger catches the scene on camera and posts the video on YouTube.com.
Within hours it’s on the popular gossip Web site TheDirty.com in a prime spot for humiliation, embarrassment and reputation homicide.
Josh Lewis, a sophomore at the time, had some explaining to do — to his friends, his family and most notably his football coach, Mike Stoops. The walk-on UA defensive end needed a few weeks to sort through the mess and clear the air filled with gossip and outrage calling for drastic discipline.
So Stoops suspended him.
“People get a kick out of other people’s mistakes and bad decisions and there’s really nothing you can do about it,” said Lewis in his first public interview now more than one year after the incident and aftermath.
Stoops and school officials tried to hush the gossip. Too late. It’s way too shocking and especially interesting because the bad guy is an Arizona defensive end.
Athletes’ misbehaviors always become a target in itself, but that’s not why he was portrayed as the bad guy.
Lewis is black. The woman is white. Outraged viewers immediately assumed it was sexual assault or rape, calling for everything from expulsion to jail time.
In fact, no charges were even pressed against Lewis.
Cinderella, meet Cupid.