Odell Beckham Jr. Addresses Rumors About His Sexuality, Trade To Cleveland, And How He Felt ‘Disrespected’ By The Giants In Wide-Ranging GQ Interview

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Back in March, the NY Giants shocked the NFL wheN they traded superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns.

Today, GQ released a wide-ranging interview with the OBJ where he talks about how he felt about getting traded to the Browns, his relationship with teammates in the locker room and all the awful rumors about his sexuality on gossip blogs.

Fist, Beckham tried to dispel the notion brought up by Colin Cowherd that he didn’t want to be in Cleveland.

Via GQ

I’m so excited about the opportunity that I have to be in Cleveland! I think it goes for everything I stand for when I talk about legendary. The Catch was cool. It was legendary, in a sense. But legendary is going to Cleveland and trying to win a championship. And I have to go back to this comment because I said something recently about being the Patriots: Who does not get into this game to be 11-and-5 or 12-and-4 every season, to win their conference, to win the championship, to go to the Super Bowl? What else would you do this for? Every year at the Giants, when they’d ask me, “What are your goals this year?” I would say to win a Super Bowl. There’s no sugarcoating it. Even if you feel like your team can’t do it, the goal is to win the Super Bowl. I don’t understand what else I’m playing for. Playing to have a good season? No, bro. I’m trying to win the Super Bowl.

Beckham goes on to say that he felt disrespected by the Giants over the way they treated him leading up to the trade.

“Like, after everything I’ve done for them,” “This is me being honest: This team has not been good for the last six years. Period. Even the year we went to the playoffs and everyone was talking about this and that. And we went there, and I didn’t have a great playoff game. Don’t get me wrong, I had a terrible game. But I left the game with seven targets, and I’m supposed to be your number one receiver. I left the game with seven targets. We lost. They scored 40 points. It’s just all bad. I felt disrespected, because I felt like I was a main reason at keeping that brand alive.”

OBJ also wanted to clear up some of the misconceptions that he was a “bad teammate”.

You can literally ask any one of my teammates. My on-the-field football never gets talked about unless people are talking about antics. They don’t talk about numbers. Where’s the reel at? People only want to focus on one thing. I feel like I’m one of the only people in the NFL where my personal life and my brand are the only things that get talked about. They’ll do a whole segment about the car that I have on ESPN. Why? I’ve never been arrested. Never have and never will be putting my hands on a woman. I’ve never done any crimes. I’ve never done anything but some little petty, dumb stuff that we keep harping on

Beckham also addressed all the awful rumors about his sexuality being spread on gossip sites on the Internet.

There was a period of time when alot of gossip sites—specifically black gossip sites—would constantly say that you were closeted. They’d call you “excited” in a hot-tub photo with your teammates or simply just say you’re gay. How’d that make you feel?
I’ve never had an opportunity to talk about this. Honestly wasn’t offended. I’ve never once had no problem with anybody who has their own personal life that they live. I have friends who are gay. It was almost more funny to me. I almost messed with them even more. It’s like when someone gives me an ultimatum, I’m usually always going to go to the opposite way of what you want me to go. So when they would say that, I would almost mess with them even more. I have no problem with anyone’s sexual orientation.

Even like little videos where they see me leaned back or something, they’ll say that I’m looking at a guy’s ass. And I’m like, “Bro! You don’t even know where my mind is at.” It was just a lose-lose. They’d see me with a white woman and be like, “Why don’t you be with any sisters?” I have no problem with any race. Love is love. If you’re attracted to somebody, you’re attracted to somebody. There was such a stigma built up, [as though] I don’t like my own women. It’s like, no, I don’t like anybody who annoys me. [laughs]

Beckham’s interview with GQ is pretty long and definitely worth the read. You can check out here.

Jorge Alonso BroBible avatar
Brobible sports editor. Jorge is a Miami native and lifelong Heat fan. He has been covering the NBA, MLB and NFL professionally for almost 10 years, specializing in digital media.