A Source Tells Me Cam Newton Was Benched for Being at a Strip Club, Not for Failing to Wear a Tie

TMZ – Here it is … the moment Panthers head coach Ron Rivera confronted Cam Newton about his dress code violation before the team trip to Seattle … and TMZ Sports has the video. …

We’re told this was the moment Rivera confronted Cam about his dress code violation — not wearing a tie on travel day. …

After the game, Cam explained, “I didn’t follow dress code, and Coach told me I wasn’t going to start. I stand by his decision.”

Cam said he had neckties available — but the reason he didn’t rock one? He didn’t feel it went with his outfit.

Breaking news: Ron Rivera did not bench Cam Newton for failure to wear a tie. And if you believe that was the reason, then there’s gold to be mined in your browser history because you’ll buy anything.

I have it on good authority from someone who has steered me right before that this has nothing to do with a dress code. Unless you count the dress code in the strip club Newton took some teammates to while the Panthers were staying out near San Francisco between games on the West Coast.

Now, I don’t know exactly what went on in the club to warrant Rivera sitting him down for a series. Newton is no stranger to making it pour in nudie bars, but when that made the news for it before, that was in June. Maybe Rivera has a specific rule about supporting single moms during the season. I wouldn’t know.

But what I do know is that the Panthers wouldn’t bench a league MVP, and a guy who’s been know to dress like Lyle Langley, over a tie. And this business about Newton not wearing a tie and Rivera enforcing team rules because every player gets treated the same is not just a lie. It’s one of the worst lies ever concocted for public consumption. Worse than the fake Taylor Swift/Kayne beef. Worse than Balloon Boy. Worse than anything Ryan Lochte could have come up with on his dumbest, drunkest day. And I know a bad lie when I hear one. I don’t have “Right About Deflategate from Minute One” at the top of my CV for nothing.

Even this video is a total fraud. Probably shot and released by the Panthers themselves to simultaneously save the Cam Newton “brand” and make Ron Rivera look like the respected, authoritarian Man of Integrity. And sooner or later the full story will come out about this, either from me or somebody who was in the titty bar. And when it does, what will not be in dispute is the Panthers are terrible liars who will never be back to a Super Bowl with this coach and this quarterback.