Though it's not even late August, former ESPN host Bomani Jones is already angered by Josh Allen and the White folks.
On his podcast this week, Jones previewed the NFL season by accusing White people of having a bias toward Allen that people of color do not share.
"America's number one rooting project, the Buffalo Bills ... they got him a new stadium. Boy, White folks is so ready for the eventual Josh Allen coronation. And it's not all the White folks, but it's White folks. We ain't got it."
Is that so?
His guest, The Ringer writer Diante Lee, nodded along, saying, "It's enough of them [White folks]."
Damn those White folks.
If you were wondering which story, scandal, podcast, or statement Jones and Lee are referring to, you are not alone. I wondered the same thing. Unfortunately, neither specified what proof they have of this supposed racial bias.
OutKick asked both Jones and Lee to explain. Neither has responded as of publication. We will update this story if either does.
But don't expect it.
Bomani Jones has been on this talking point for a while. He has long accused nameless media figures of giving Josh Allen a pass and rooting for him because he is White.
Jones is one of the leading participants in the media-manufactured race war between Allen and Lamar Jackson. As expected, he sides with Jackson. Just last week, he complained that anonymous people — who else? — are putting more pressure on Jackson than Allen this season.
His argument: The Bills kept Allen and gave him a new head coach, so he has no more excuses.
The problem: The Ravens also kept Jackson and gave him a new coach.
Why the double standard? While racially motivated, Jones may not have known that the Ravens fired John Harbaugh and hired Jesse Minter. He often doesn't appear to know the details about the sports he covers, beyond the skin colors of the subjects involved.
Last season, he said Stafford must win a Super Bowl to make the Hall of Fame.
"He's the new Josh Allen," Jones said about Stafford. "He's the least scrutinized No. 1 pick in the history of No. 1 overall picks. If the Rams don't win the Super Bowl, shut this Hall of Fame thing up."
Jones was seemingly unaware that Stafford had already won a Super Bowl just a few years earlier.
He later backtracked, saying Stafford needed to win a second Super Bowl to earn a spot in the Hall of Fame. This argument didn't make much sense either, considering only 13 quarterbacks have won more than one Super Bowl, yet 36 have been enshrined, many of whom have lesser resumes than Stafford.
But the facts didn't matter. Stafford played the Bears that week, and Jones needed to find a way to discredit Stafford and elevate Caleb Williams.
Likewise, he is now arguing that Kyler Murray is a better quarterback than Sam Darnold, who just won a Super Bowl last season.
Are you starting to see a trend?
Bomani is also not a believer in Drake Maye, Fernando Mendoza or Justin Herbert. He does, however, have great faith in Cam Ward, Jayden Daniels and Dak Prescott.
The prediction here is that Jones will prefer Dante Moore over Arch Manning in next year's NFL Draft.
To be clear, Jones understands his audience. His reach is now limited to a niche group of sports fans who want to hear that White people are inferior athletes who have survived only because of White privilege.
Therefore, Jones has lowered himself to arguing with straw men, whom he accuses of favoring Allen and Stafford based on their skin color.
Granted, even his own fans appear tired of the schtick. Here's the top message on his Reddit fan page as of Friday afternoon:
"Bomani has completely lost the juice.
"Today’s episode made me tap out. He has nothing interesting left to say. If he’s going to spend the entire NFL season making the same 5 points about Stafford, Allen, Murray, and Hurts I’ll pass.
"He had a great run but it’s honestly kinda depressing what he’s turned into."
The market for racial idolatry in sports media has collapsed. The demand for Jones, Ryan Clark, Jemele Hill, Cari Champion and many others is over. In fact, Jones never had much of an audience anyway. See the ratings for his former shows at ESPN.
Put simply, there is no evidence that White folks are rooting for Josh Allen because he's White. But because Bomani so clearly roots for Black quarterbacks because they are Black, something he has admitted, he assumes everyone else is like him.
Fortunately, most people are not. Most people are not this concerned about the skin colors of the people playing quarterback.