Cleveland Browns: Fans need to stop making excuses for Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Beckham Jr. is again putting himself in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and for some reason, fans are defending him.

Reputations are not given, they are earned. Earned through the behavior one demonstrates in their day to day life. Good people don’t find themselves in the middle of controversies often, if at all, and it’s time fans start to realize that this isn’t a “vendetta” against Odell Beckham Jr., it’s merely who he is. A problem.

Beckham is once again in hot water after slapping the ass of a police officer the night LSU won the national championship in football. Beckham was in the locker room, and a police officer (or arena security guard) was doing his job when Beckham came up behind him and slapped his ass. It then appears as though Beckham taunts the officer after the incident.

An arrest warrant for simple battery was issued and announced on Thursday, leading to fans again groaning that Beckham was once again putting himself in the middle of a situation he shouldn’t have been in. This came just hours after Beckham handed out actual money to LSU players after the victory, knowingly threatening their eligibility for the next football season.

The incident itself is sad, a player basking in his privilege committing sexual assault on a man who was just minding his own business. It’s made sad by comments that are springing up, blaming the man for being a victim of an assault. Some are saying the officer should have never been in the locker room in the first place, while others claim that players slap each other on the butt all the time, so what’s the big deal?

Firstly, none of that justifies the fact that Beckham is again acting in a way that disregards common decency. Just because you win a game doesn’t mean the rules no longer apply. Those justifying it because it’s a “celebration” don’t realize that the law doesn’t care. If you slap a man’s ass without their consent, that’s a form of sexual harassment. If you set a car on fire just because you win a championship, that doesn’t make it not arson. The laws are the laws no matter the time of day,  or what title you may or may not have won. The officer isn’t a teammate, and for that matter neither is Beckham.

Secondly, Beckham was acting irrational and disrespectful. Not surprising, as Beckham spent his first year in Cleveland wearing six figures worth of jewelry in a game where people run into each other for fun, screaming at his head coach, and now this. In a world where over-entitled athletes can spin out rather fast (Hey, AB), why are fans not seeing the danger of Beckham’s behavior? He’s nearly 30, and doesn’t realize to keep his hands to himself? That’s a bad sign. Being a famous athlete should not be a free pass for this kind of behavior.

Beckham got himself into this, and no amount of blaming the victim by Browns fans is going to change the fact that Beckham is the problem, not anyone else.