Big Ben vs. Kobe? Does Race Matter in Rape Allegations?

Okay, for those of you who got angry with me for not taking sides in the case between Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley last week (if only you knew what I know about this case), I thought I should describe a racially charged situation that makes me say "hmmmm." That would be the case of "Big Ben" Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the surprising rape accusation filed by a woman in Las Vegas.

In a civil lawsuit, Andrea McNulty accuses Big Ben of engaging in some disturbing activities. She claims that Ben forced himself on her sexually when she went into his hotel room to check on a broken television set. All of this allegedly took place in Vegas and, of course, Ben is denying it.

His situation is similar to the disturbing allegations made against NBA star Kobe Bryant in the summer of 2003.

Both cases have their shaky points. For Bryant, there was the evidence that the alleged victim spent a lot of "quality time" (sexually) with other men during the same week she was allegedly raped by him. This doesn't mean that she couldn't have been raped, but it certainly hurt her case in the eyes of the American public. In Ben's situation, the woman waited nearly a year to file a civil suit against him. Not a criminal suit, a civil one. Whether she was raped or not, she has decided that she definitely wants to get paid.

Again, wanting to get paid doesn't imply that you can't be raped, but similar to Bryant's accuser, McNulty's request for cash has weakened her case in the eyes of those trying to sort out the facts. Fortunately, the public doesn't decide rape cases, since there is enough bias in favor of high-profile athletes. Simultaneously, there are many people in the world wishing to take advantage of athletes, as false rape charges are all too common.

What is also interesting about these two seemingly similar situations is that while Kobe's case was all over the news for several days in a row, the world has heard barely a peep about Roethlisberger. Sure, I've seen it mentioned in the news here and there, but there hasn't been the sort of brain-drain hyperanalysis that took place during the Kobe Bryant fiasco or in the case of Michael Vick. Why would that be?

Some might say that it has to do with the fact that Roethlisberger's case seems far shakier and less interesting than Bryant's. Others might argue that Bryant is the bigger star of the two. Ben has only two championship rings to Kobe's four, but they've both had pretty good careers.

Then, there is the final possibility that our imagery of black men as criminals and sexual aggressors makes it easier to believe that Kobe raped a white woman. The truth is that while we can point to several cases in which black male athletes are lifted to America as public enemy number one (Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, Terrell Owens, Ron Artest, Latrell Sprewell, Randy Moss), we are hard pressed to find any white athletes who are hoisted into the same infamous light.

What is also interesting is that seeing so many African American men in trouble on TV leads the public to wonder why black men choose to misbehave. We tend to forget, however, that the media makes a decision about what to spotlight and what to leave out of the news cycle. For example, while we are quick to hear about black male athletes behaving badly, we are less likely to see cases like that of Myron Rolle, the Florida State Seminole who passed up the NFL draft to become a Rhodes Scholar.

In the interview below, Delores Jones of 'Your Black World' interviews Dr. Deborah Stroman of the College Sport Research Institute. Stroman and Jones talk about the cases of Bryant and Roethlisberger and whether there is a difference in public perception of the two. Finally, there is the question of whether or not this difference is related to race. Enjoy.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a finance professor at Syracuse University. He does regular commentary in national media, including CNN, MSNBC, BET and more. To have Boyce's commentary delivered directly to your e-mail, please click here.