Can We Please Leave Michael Sam Alone?

Unless you’ve been completely off of Facebook for the last 24 hours, you’ve most likely seen the tabloids reporting that former NFL hopeful Michael Sam and his fiancé Vito Cammisano have called it quits. In all honesty, we need to give these guys some privacy.

If I see one more person update their status with “Hey, Michael, I’m single! (insert random emoticon here),” I’m going to barf. Yes, Sam is, in essence, a public figure, so what he does on and off the football field is somewhat fair game for discussion. However, you’re showing a heck of lot of indignity by digitally throwing yourself at the dude.

In all seriousness, when it comes to the issues surrounding Sam, it is important to revisit the notion of what is private and what is game for public discussion. I remember back when Sam was first drafted that ESPN spent time reporting on his showering habits at training camp (you know, as if he was going to magically turn a bunch of other players gay). We all took offense to how ridiculous that sort of rhetoric was.

Yes, with social media and public figures, there’s a very fuzzy line between what is “fair game,” especially if the celebrity is pimping out shots of themselves all over Instagram of their fabulous lives. But I don’t feel like that’s necessarily the case with Sam and his (maybe) ex-partner. This isn’t a Kardashian begging for attention. In fact, it doesn’t look like either man has made any public statements about a break-up…yet

Michael Sam has had a bad year already: Let’s not make it any worse by hypersexualizing the dude on Facebook. Give these guys a little space. Oh, and by the way: I highly doubt Michael is going to magically reply to your online requests for a sexual kiki, so save your digital breath.