Brett Favre is one of the media’s favorite punching bags at the moment. Sports commentators and journalists say the retired quarterback is a very bad person because of allegations he participated in the misuse of state welfare funds.
Former NFL star and FS1 host Shannon Sharpe called Favre a “sleazeball” who should be removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “The problem that I have with this situation is you got to be a sorry mofo to steal from the lowest,” Sharpe said. “Mississippi is the poorest state in our country . . . Brett Favre is taking from the underserved.”
A Washington Post columnist insisted: “Favre displayed no basic human decency as he angled to direct $5 million of other people’s money toward the construction of a volleyball stadium for his daughter’s school.”
The attacks are heavy on invective but low on facts. Brett Favre tried to help his alma mater build an athletic facility—and he did it with the approval of state officials.
The state auditor Shad White acknowledged to Fox News that the attorney general’s office approved the $5 million grant for an athletic facility at the University of Southern Mississippi.
There is no evidence that Favre knew federal welfare funds were being used, which the state auditor admitted in a statement. White told Fox News “Now, whether or not Mr. Favre knew that this money was specifically coming from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, there are no documents out in the public right now that suggest that.”
Favre even worked with the Mississippi governor to help secure the grant for Southern Miss. It’s hardly a violation of “basic human decency” to work with elected state officials to secure a grant for a public university.
Favre is just one of many people who were conned by Nancy New. New pled guilty to fraud for misusing federal welfare funds while at the helm of a nonprofit called the Mississippi Community Education Center (MCEC).
According to the state auditor’s office, MCEC improperly disbursed welfare funds to many individuals, including over $3 million to former pro wrestler Ted DiBiase and $800k to former football player Marcus Dupree.
DiBiase and Dupree have both refused to return the funds and have not received nearly as much hate in the press as Favre. They may not be as famous as Favre, but the NFL great at least returned the $1.1 million he received from MCEC when he found out it was misused welfare funds.
Favre’s reward has been a nonstop assault on his character. It’s no surprise that Favre is the villain du jour considering he is a southern white man who enthusiastically supports Donald Trump. And the press jumped at the chance to claim a conservative is stealing from poor black people.
MSNBC commentator Jason Johnson tweeted last month: “Rich white man takes something that doesn’t belong to him. Questioned by authorities extensively but unlikely to see jail time. Without looking at the headline, are we talking about Favre or Trump?”
The whole Favre “controversy” is largely the work of a reporter at a liberal outlet called Mississippi Today. This reporter, Anna Wolfe, is a long-time Trump hater.
“Wrote a Trump story last week that, as grotesque as this is, sheds light on how we got here. Just so disheartening,” Wolfe tweeted in November of 2016. She was sharing an article about a black church that had been torched and spray-painted with graffiti that read: “Vote Trump.”
Like the Favre story, it turned out to be a hoax. The attack was committed by a member of the church’s congregation.
The Trump story Wolfe references in her tweet is a hackish story entitled: “Trump message resonates in Mississippi.”
Wolfe spends several paragraphs in the story quoting a Trump-supporting member of Sons of Confederate Veterans that blames the “blacks.” When she tweeted out the story, Wolfe commented, “And now, a word from your local Trump supporter.”
Favre trusted state officials for their opinion on Nancy New. His primary goal was to help out his alma mater. As soon as he found out he received welfare funds meant for the needy, he returned them.
But there is no way for Trump supporters to acquit themselves in the eyes of the liberal press. Brett Favre stands guilty just because of who he is.