Good news, everyone. It turns out if you work in close enough proximity to someone rich, you can somehow obtain that money yourself.
Or at least that’s what one Orange County Register editor wrote this weekend.
Back in July, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law designating professional cheerleaders as employees, giving them the right to a minimum wage, sick time, worker’s compensation and other employee benefits. The law went into effect Jan. 1, but the OC Register’s op-ed section thought it was a government overreach. The reasoning was pretty awful.
So, how would the cheerleaders obtain money simply from working near millionaires? Is the Register implying cheerleaders do or should engage in relationships with the players for money? If not, do their bank accounts just grow through osmosis?
Not to mention, cheerleaders all over the NFL have brought lawsuits against their teams for low wages and some pretty despicable treatment. Some alleged to be making less than $3 an hour and many flat-out weren’t paid for practices or appearances. Earning minimum wage really isn’t too much to ask.
For what it’s worth, opinion editor Brian Calle cut out the line about “working closely” with players Monday and explained to Jezebel how it was published in the first place.
“(Monday) was my first day back in the office. (I was taking some very rare time off when the editorial was written and published.) After reading the editorial (Monday) I instructed my deputy editor to remove the sentence from the story. The writer of that particular editorial was out of the office on personal leave today and I plan to have a conversation with him tomorrow morning. After we discuss it I plan to further address the situation and take corrective action.
To be clear though: I read the inference in the editorial as offensive and unseemly.
And it is definitely not reflective of the philosophy of Freedom Communications, the Orange County Register, the Press-Enterprise, our Editorial Board, our publisher, the owners of the company and certainly not me.”
Thumbnail photo via Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports Images
