A seven-second social media clip of New York Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is quickly circulating on popular media sites. The clip puts Beckham in a compromising situation as it clearly shows him holding what appears to be marijuana in one hand while laying in bed alongside a ziplock bag containing a powdery substance. The Giants haven’t commented yet but the video is rapidly trending. Could trouble be on the horizon for Beckham? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO SportsDesk debate.
NFL player Odell Beckham Jr., left, of the New York Giants stands, during the second half of an NBA All-Star basketball game in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)
Riley: Considering Beckham’s profile, this will spread pretty fast. He’s a star in one of the world’s biggest market if not the biggest market. The tabloids and gossip pages will take a seven-second clip and turn it into an incriminating source of evidence. The NFL is already up to its neck in public relations problems so even though the Giants might not be commenting on this yet, the NFL will step in at some point. Marijuana is already a problem and couple that with the white stuff? Big problems ahead.
Green: The video is too short and inconclusive for the Giants, the media or the NFL to run wild with this. Beckham isn’t seen doing anything so any retaliation would be based upon pure speculation. Could the NFL surprise him with a drug test? They probably will. But until we see any visual proof or detect any unusual behavior we should probably lay off the allegations. We’re becoming too quick to crucify people thanks to the incriminating process disguised as social media. But in Beckham’s case, I didn’t see anything.
Riley: You sound like a witness in the Tupac and Biggie murders. What do you mean you didn’t see anything? It’s clear what was going on in the video as far as the marijuana. The other substance, whatever it was, O.K, I can agree that you can’t pin Beckham to that. But he clearly was holding some type of rolled paper in his hand and judging by the texture and the color, it was probably a rolled blunt. I don’t want the media or the NFL to go crazy but previous history shows that they will.
Green: Any basic lawyer would argue that Beckham isn’t seen doing anything in the video, whether he’s holding a blunt or not. And that’s exactly why the video won’t blow up. It’ll make its rounds through online for a few weeks but then it’ll die out. There’s nothing to see, Riley, and you know it. You can call Beckham silly or immature for letting something like this get out and maybe the Giants will bring him in for a one-on-one interview to discuss things but that’s about it. Beckham dodged one on this because it could’ve been a lot worse.
