My initial response was a joke. But I'll entertain your questions.
Does it matter where he came from, did he have a choice?
It does matter if you are measuring someone's will. A kid that came from nothing that made it into the UFC probably has more heart than the kid who's father pushed him into it since he was young.
Are people speaking for him or is all the talk and hype self generated?
It doesn't matter. Rampage Jackson beat Ninja in Pride once. Rampage tried handing Ninja the trophy acknowledging the judges were wrong while apologizing. He could have stayed quiet. With the proliferation of social media, Northcutt could have already responded to this call out. But he hasn't. He has chosen to remain silent.
Did he choose his skin color, or was he thrown into existence like everybody else?
Skin color was mentioned in my initial response as a joke. As far as Lee mentioning it, that's on him. It doesn't make his comments less significant.
Is he less of a person because his family has money?
No one said he is less of a person. Lee said he simply hasn't earned the spotlight because he has been spoonfed by his parents and now the UFC -- which is unfair to other fighters who had to fight their into the UFC.
Does going through a rough life make you better than everyone else?
No one said that. But my bet is that it does tend to make you tougher. If you take two athletes, A and B. And athlete A had a loving family and money but athlete B was an orphan. Yet they both ended up at the same place. I would put my money on athlete B having more heart and being tougher. Not that it makes him a better person, no one is saying that. If you need proof, just look at where most top athletes come from -- basketball, football, boxing, etc. Most sports that are accessible to poor people are dominated by kids from poor backgrounds. Why? My bet is because they are tougher.
Is life fair?
No. And Kevin Lee is speaking up about it. What is he supposed to do, just stay quiet?
You see then thing is that when a Conor McG comes around and starts calling people Nazis and making fun of Aldo's ethnic background, it's all laughs and all hail King Conor. When Chael Sonnen talks about Nogueira chasing buses thinking they're donkeys and making jokes about Brazil's poverty, he's becomes the American badass. They both talked their way into fights.
But when Kevin Lee, who is black, starts talking shit on some suburban white boy, aww nah he's racist. He's salty. He ain't shit himself. Who has he beat? He jelly.
Ask yourself why?
It's only a matter of time before this sport becomes accessible to poor kids. Then it will be dominated by brown and black kids for no other reason than them being tougher. It happened in boxing, it happened in basketball, it happened in the NFL.
But right now, a $200/month MMA gym is not accessible. That's why you mostly get college educated wrestlers and some sprinkled in crossover athletes. And who else? The poor Brazilian kids who do have access to MMA gyms. Although most of their good camps are now moving to the US.