A recent headline from a poker news site, NBC Features Poker "Rapist"?, really got my attention. In fact, it must have caught a lot of people’s attention – most notably that of Shahram “Shawn” Shiekhan’s attorney. The piece was rapidly followed by a couple of others only days later, with catchy titles that cleared the air a bit, like NBC "Poker After Dark" Poker Player Just a Child Molester....Not a Rapist. Thanks for clearing that up.
This really raises one question: what was the purpose of this article? Was this newsworthy? Who’s to say? Rather than speculate on what might or might not have been the author’s intention, it’s safe to say that – yet again – poker’s getting some serious negative press. That’s the last thing we need.
Regardless of whether or not Shawn Sheikhan is a reformed upstanding citizen or a degenerate scumbag is beside the point. Everyone’s got opinions, and there are few words or phrases that get everyone fired up like “rapist” and “child molester.” Once these have been injected, people switch off and go ballistic without looking any further at the big picture. Online, this is tantamount to creating yet another spiraling thread of responses and comments that are never allowed to die.
Specific to poker, how many nut-job conservative groups that already have a hard-on for poker and all of the evils that surround it are going to jump on this and flog it for all it’s worth? I can already hear it: Not only are poker players inherently depraved, but now NBC is showcasing a convicted sex offender! This must be stopped!
Not that this would be anything new. Every network that presents professional or collegiate athletics showcases all manner of “convicted criminals.” Never mind the fact that the majority of professional athletes have never been involved in any sort of legal trouble at all. The same holds true with poker, only professional poker’s a lot smaller and in relative infancy compared to media coverage for football, basketball, etc. The immediate and obvious effect is that if a poker personality is focused on by the media, that’s the lens that the masses come to know poker through.
It would be nice to think that one person’s actions away from the felt and over ten years ago wouldn’t reflect poorly on the poker community as a whole. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case.
