In twist, cancel culture comes for Lions coaching candidate and writer after controversial-remark story

A sports writer’s attempt to highlight a Detroit Lions coaching candidate’s anti-gay remark from more than 20 years ago backfired Friday.

Dan Campbell, the current tight ends coach for the New Orleans Saints and former interim head coach of the Miami Dolphins, reportedly became the front-runner to land the Lions’ head coaching job earlier this week after the organization hired Brad Holmes as its general manager.

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A Detroit Free Press report emerged Friday highlighting Campbell making an anti-gay remark when he was a tight end for Texas A&M in 1998. The report said Campbell made the comment during a pep rally that he liked that he was going to a school where "men like women and women like men."

Campbell would apologize later, telling a local newspaper: "I offended some people, and I’m sorry for that. It was heat of the moment. It’s not necessarily that I directed it at anyone."

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The Free Press writer, Marlowe Alter, created some heat of his own as sleuths dug deep into his Twitter history in an attempt to cancel him instead. Several people brought up old tweets of Alter using anti-gay slurs from more than nine years ago.

Alter apologized, saying he regretted his actions.

"I apologize for the unacceptable tweets from my past. There is no excuse for the language I used and I'm embarrassed. I do not condone that language. I’m sorry to anyone I have offended and deeply regret my actions," he wrote.

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Campbell is just the latest football figure to be on the receiving end of an attempted "canceling."

Josh Allen and even Patrick Mahomes have received scrutiny over controversial past statements. In the end, everyone still has their jobs.