Last week’s Kansas City Chiefs’ 45-17 victory over the Detroit Lions did not come as much of a shock to anyone. However, the most reported incident of the game came after the final whistle was blown. The Lions’ General Manager Matt Millen and Chiefs receiver Johnnie Morton, who spent the first eight years of his career in Detroit, ended up in an exchange of words that led to Millen using the one slur that is still acceptable in professional sports.

“You faggot! Yeah, you heard me. You faggot!” Millen yelled at Morton.

A member of the Chiefs’ PR department and a Kansas City Sports Radio show host were among the witnesses of the incident.

Morton was stepping inside the locker room as Millen shouted the comment and did not hear his remarks. Morton did say that harsh words were exchanged before Millen shouted the epitaph.

“What happened was I was just walking by,” Morton said. “I wasn’t going to say anything to him. I walked past him and he said, ‘Hey, Johnnie.’ I ignored him. And then he said, ‘Nice talking to you.’ And I said, ‘Kiss my ass.’”

Millen apologized the next day for using the derogatory term.

“He made an inappropriate remark, and I reacted inappropriately,” Millen said. “I said something I shouldn’t have, which was wrong, and I apologize for that. And I apologize to anybody that I offended with that remark.”

Millen was asked if he expected to hear from the NFL about it, but he refused to take questions from the press.

Morton apologized for his part in the exchange, but was disappointed by Millen’s choice of words.

“What he said is demeaning and bigoted,” Morton told The Kansas City Star. “Jeremy Shockey got in trouble for saying it about a coach (Bill Parcells), and now we have a president of a team making statements like that. It’s totally unacceptable. I have gay friends, and I don’t even joke around with them like that.”

Last summer, Shockey was quoted during an interview calling Parcells a “homo” in a New York magazine article.

Some gay activists are calling for Millen’s resignation over the comments, but Cathy Renna, the news media director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said on ESPN if Millen is shown the exit, it won’t be because of his insensitive remarks.

“I tend to be an optimist,” she said, “but I don’t think it will be [a deciding factor].”

More likely the Lions will cite his abysmal 9-37 record, which includes a record-tying 23-game road losing streak in his two-plus seasons as the president of the organization, when they give him the boot.

“Executives are supposed to be held more accountable,” she said. “It’s time for the NFL to wake up and smell the coffee. When the [anti-gay] message comes from the top [of an organization] it sends a really bad message.”

Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said he discussed the issue briefly with Morton.

“The only thing I mentioned to Johnnie was to let it drop, forget about it,” Vermeil said.

Millen, who has led the Lions to a 9-37 record during his three seasons in charge, has been the focus of more than one controversy.

Millen was fined $200,000 this summer by the NFL because he didn’t follow the league’s minority hiring policy when he hired coach Steve Mariucci. The Lions said five minority candidates turned down interviews because it appeared inevitable Mariucci would be hired.

During the 2002 season, Millen called an unidentified player a “devout coward,” on Mike Ditka’s Chicago radio show. Millen later apologized for the comment.

“Matt said what he needed to say last night and just now,” Mariucci said Monday. “It’s unfortunate. We all learn from those things, I guess.”

Joey Harrington said Millen had the right to be upset, but said things he shouldn’t have.

“Some words are appropriate and some words aren’t,” Harrington said.