by Christian Duque
Bodybuilders are human beings. They’re just like everyone else. If you’re going to be a reporter, you have to be ready to accept the consequences of breaking stories. If you’re going to be a commentator and you’re going to say who should win and who should place second, you should be ready to expect any kind of blowback. If somebody is going to challenge you, then you should be cool with that. If someone is going to take exception to what you have written or what you have said, you have to be ready for that.
Whether that is someone saying something into your camera, writing something on their instagram, blocking you, whatever the reaction may be, you have got to be ready for it. Especially if you’ve been doing this for years and if you have developed enough experience in the industry. Now if you expect bodybuilders to bow down and take it just because you have written for a certain magazine or because you have have a certain podcast, or because you’ve been talking into your phone for hundreds of hours of your life, then you have another thing coming.
There are very few people in this industry who can speak their peace to the point of ruffling a competitor’s feathers and that competitors stay absolutely quiet. The people that can do that are people like Jim, Big Steve, maybe Arnold, but not some reporter somewhere.
At the end of the day, if you need to be airlifted to your mental health provider, if you need a blanket, or if you need a hug, then maybe you shouldn’t be a journalist. If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out. If you’re going to say that one man should not have won a show and then you get butthurt because that man calls you out on your bullshit, don’t then expect an apology. Don’t go cry to promoters, officials, and anyone who will listen to you on the down low or do because you can trust them to keep it quiet.. We’ve been doing this sort of work for many years. We all know that that’s a recipe to make something go viral. If you wanted to keep it quiet, you would’ve kept it to yourself.
I’m not going to give names, here, because I don’t feel that that’s necessary. It’s not because I’m scared of anyone because I’m not. I have never bit my tongue or played down my feelings. But I also don’t want to give press where press isn’t warranted.
I don’t think apologies should be given unless they’re meant. And I don’t think someone should ask for an apology, either. When someone asks for an apology it’s because their pride is shot, their ego needs to be stroked. Maybe they need a hug and a blanket.
I don’t think it’s the place of competitors, let alone top-tier competitors, to apologize for being human. If anything, I think reporters that have thin skin should perhaps reevaluate their chosen profession.
We have way too much political correctness in this world. If you push someone to the point where they feel the need to have to say something, whether jovially or as serious as a heart attack, then you need to be able to take it.
I think if you’re going to be a bodybuilding commentator and you’re going to spend hours each month dissecting contests, competitors, handicapping shows and speaking as to which competitor can go all the way and which it cannot, you need to be ready to get a response from pretty much everyone you talk about.
For example, I think Nick Walker is an asshole. I write about that extensively. If I saw Nick Walker and I was filming or reporting on a contest, and he walked up to me and told me to go fuck myself, I’m not going to reach out to promoters, supplement company owners, and super fans, crying them a river about why Nick Walker should apologize to me.
The difference between commentators talking into their phone in mom’s basement and commentators that are at shows, is that commentators that actually come into direct contact with the athletes they’re talking about come into direct contact with them. That said, those commentators should be very grateful that they have that type of press access and/or that they work for a contest.
For example, getting a press pass to a professional bodybuilding show is very very special. That is not just given out to anyone. But if you are back there and you are not just reporting on the aesthetics of bodybuilding and the beauty of posing, but rather, you’re somebody that has a very opinionated stance, then yes you should expect some kind of reaction from these guys. Perhaps your commentary has annoyed them, perhaps your commentary has disrupted their preparations, perhaps they just don’t like you. These are all perfectly normal positions to hold. Again, bodybuilders are human beings. Just like everyone else.
Over the years I’ve spoken to some of the biggest bodybuilders and they have expressed attitudes that range from disinterest to downright hatred of the media. The takeover message here is that sometimes the media makes you happy and sometimes it makes you angry. At the end of the day, it’s not the bodybuilders’ job to kiss the media’s ass. Just like it’s not the media’s job to kiss the competitors’ asses, either. If anything, the media has to be tougher. Because without the competitors, there’s no sport. Without the media, there still is one.
HUMILITY is growing scarce among the talking heads.
I come from a day where the media had to earn its place. If you were going to write articles on the sport, contact the national office for press passes, and do the business of bodybuilding, you most definitely needed to have yourself a massive slice of humble pie. Because as a member of the media you are not part of some special class like that of being a judge or an official. You’re there to create content and to write about the sport. You play an important role, but these athletes don’t owe you anything. If anything, you owe them. They provide the content that makes you have the ability to make a living. And if you make your living, in part, by antagonizing some of these athletes, then don’t cry later.
You can’t enjoy a five course dinner and then complain when the waiter brings you the bill. If you’re going to be a commentator and you’re going to be outspoken and uncensored, then don’t play the victim. If you want to have a one-on-one, then have that one-on-one whether you do it through Instagram or maybe you find another moment during the contest, but you don’t start contacting a bunch of people hoping to create a situation where the athlete feels compelled to apologize to you. Again, that has a lot more to do with the commentator’s pride and ego than doing the right thing. But let me reiterate something.
The athletes do not have to bow down to the media. The athletes don’t even have to respect the media, either. Respect is earned.
Here’s something else that falls into the food for thought category. There are very, very few bodybuilders that are able to make a living from the sport. Most bodybuilders will have side hustles like coaching clients 40 hours a week or more. And it’s always more because clients don’t just bug you for check-ins, they will pick your brain and second guess you every chance they can get. And that all takes time away from a coach’s family, their personal endeavors like competing, and much-needed downtime. But a lot of competitors have to coach in order to pay the bills. Bodybuilding competition alone falls considerably short. Others sell cars, work as lawyers, maybe build bridges or wait tables. They do whatever it takes to be able to be bodybuilders.
And the same thing goes for the media. Most journalists in this industry need to have several side hustles if they really want to write full-time. There are very few bodybuilders that can compete and earn a living just from that. And there are very few journalists that can earn a living just from the sport. So if you’re one of those people, be grateful and don’t expect to have your ass kissed or your feelings made to be a priority. Be grateful, take praise whenever you can get it, and if life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Apologies and backtracking and mitigating damages and softening blows and not saying certain words and not raising your voice and not being too vocal and biting your tongue and so on and so forth are all soy boy, politically correct, feelings police, sissy-style approaches to life. Just be you, boo.
If you’re going to be a commentator, commentate. If you piss someone off and they say something to you, don’t whine about your feelings to the world. And don’t pretend like you reached out to only select people to see what they had to say. You know you reached out to more than select people and you know that you weren’t asking them for their honest opinion, you wanted them to coddle you. You wanted sympathy. You wanted people to tell you what a bad man that competitor was for being human, and what a courageous journalist you are for taking that abuse.
You could’ve made more content out of it. You could’ve gone back to those competitors, and talked shit right back to them, or you could have said something to make them laugh. Instead, you let it burn inside of you while you plotted on how you were going to get your revenge by forcing these competitors through the court of public opinion to apologize to you. That’s pathetic.
That apology is never going to come. Nor should it. Apologies need to be sincere. They need to come from the heart of the person doing the apologizing. Pressuring someone through the court of public opinion to apologize is a perfect example of bullying. Why should someone apologize for being criticized – whether or not the criticism is constructive or malicious?
Bodybuilders are not punching bags. Bodybuilders should not have to take the brunt of being on the receiving end of outspoken commentary. What, they can’t break character and be real – even if just for a few seconds?
Fuck your apology and fuck your feelings.
If you’re going to be a commentator commentate. And if you don’t like what the people you’re commentating on have to say then deal with it. Nobody owes you anything. Be grateful that you can be a writer, a journalist, a content creator, and make a living in this industry.
Again, no names. no contests. no details. It’s not necessary. Just some food for thought.
As always, thank you for reading my article, here, at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It is bound to generate lively conversation.