Daily Beast's Jacobs: NFL Must Accept Openly Gay Player

Football players worried about sharing a locker room with an openly gay athlete have to adapt and accept, Daily Beast reporter Ben Jacobs says.

"I say just get over it," Jacobs told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"It's still a bunch of naked guys taking a shower together," he said Tuesday.

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Jacobs says that Michael Sam — the star defensive lineman for the University of Missouri who came out of the closet and will likely become the first openly gay National Football League player — is mostly much ado about nothing.

"Players have been on teams where they've known that teammates were gay," Jacobs said.

"A number of players have talked about that they've played with teammates who've been gay who haven't been openly, publicly, out and it hasn't caused any real issues."

Jacobs wrote a column for the Daily Beast in which he makes the controversial comparison between Sam's revelation and the debut of Jackie Robinson, who broke major-league baseball's color barrier.

"This was a first moment, historical moment . . . He's the first openly gay player in the same way that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to break the color barrier in 1947," Jacobs said.

"This is not explicitly comparing any other aspects, but it's a first, it's a milestone, it's a landmark, and it's noteworthy for that."

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