msnbc   |  January 31, 2013

Super Bowl-bound 49er’s Chris Culliver apologizes for comments about gays

MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts talks to Hudson Taylor, founder of Athlete-Ally, about San Francisco 49’ers Chris Culliver’s apology about his comments about gays off and on the football field.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>> best ingredient is love. tul ver is on an apology tour. in response to a shock jock , he said, no, we don't need gay people on the team. they to get up out of here. can't welcome back that sweet stuff . now, the coach for the 49ers, jim harbough, said there's no malice in his heart and that he is not an ugly person, in referring to culliver. huds hudson, i want to get your reaction because you have had such a great mission trying to break through homophobic stances in pro sports and college sports . what's your reaction to hearing what he had to say and he has since apologized, but it really shows his place in thinking.

>> yeah. i mean, athletes are role models. to millions of kids in this country who happen to be both gay and straight. fortunately for every athlete ally that speaks out, another person can feel comfortable and confident coming out. that's why we're working with athletes like chris -- scott fugita and connor barwin of the texans to make sport safe for everybody and really reiterate the point that discrimination has no place in sports. snoo here's the great thing. athlete ally exists because crap like that exists and people say ugly things like that, but the good news is, as you said, brendan is part of your ambassadors, your team of athlete allies. now we've got brendan and culliver facing off, hero against villain basically, in the super bowl .

>> i should say, you know, brendan 's main objective here is to win a super bowl , and that's why athlete ally and other members of the athletic community are making sure that people know it doesn't matter if you're young or old or tall or short or gay or straight. if you can run fast and throw far, you should be able to play regardless of your sexual orientation.

>> this is about being the best athlete you can be, being respectful to everybody. check out athlete ally.com. people can take the pledge there. thanks