Buccaneers Player Blows Off Question From ESPN Reporter Who Had Heated Exchange With Teammate
Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis ignored a question from ESPN’s Jenna Laine days after she got into a verbal altercation with his teammate Giovani Bernard.
After the Buc’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday evening, Laine and other reporters sought answers from Bernard over his costly fumble at the start of the 3rd quarter. Bernard’s fumble led to 31 unanswered points by the Bengals in their 34-23 win over Tampa Bay.
Laine and the other reporters had an awkward back-and-forth with Bernard as he tried to walk away from them in the Buccaneers’ locker room.
“You were also injured for most of the season, too,” Laine shouted at Bernard.
Bernard turned around and said, “Woah, wait. Can I go to my family that I have outside? And all of a sudden, now?”
After Bernard saw his family, he returned to the locker room and took ownership of the costly fumble. Laine posted the video of the verbal altercation on her Twitter feed and received criticism from Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant Monday morning.
On Wednesday night, Laine issued an apology about her spar with Bernard. She said, “I was too caught up in trying to get the full story.”
Thursday afternoon, Laine got a cold shoulder treatment from Davis when reporters met him at his locker.
“Can you talk about the challenges these particular skill players bring?” Laine asked.
Davis shot an icy stare at Laine, before completely ignoring her question.
“There’s an incident with Gio Bernard, and as a team, we just feel as if the people who’s supposed to be on our side should be on our side, and because it happens to him, we understand that it can happen to anyone of us,” Davis said. “So right now, we just feel that this is a sensitive subject to talk about when we do talk to you guys and how vulnerable we can be at times.”
Davis did not single Laine out by name.
“I don’t want to shout anyone out, but it’s just a respect thing,” Davis continued. “I respect you doing your job. You respect me doing my job.”
Watch above.
