Obviously, Tim Hardaway forgot to study the play book before going off on a homophobic tirade on a radio show just before the National Basketball Association's annual All-Star splash.
So the former star player has lost a PR gig as an official representative of the league in the leadup to the big game, which will be held in Las Vegas this weekend.
"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," NBA commissioner David Stern said after Hardaway’s anti-gay rant created a storm.
Hardaway has a right to his views, but he doesn’t have a right to represent the corporate NBA, which likes to make money and put forth a face of tolerance when, as everyone knows, a lot of folks associated with the league probably agree with Hardaway. Why do you think John Amaechi waited until he had retired from professional basketball to disclose that he is gay? (His newly published memoir is "Man in the Middle.")
Hardaway, apparently not comfortable enough in his own sexuality and ignorant enough to believe that homosexuality is contagious, said, while discussing Amaechi’s revelation:
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."
When the radio host challenged him, Hardaway went on and on: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
Maybe it’s views like Hardaway’s that “shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
His handlers tried to clean up the mess he’d made by issuing a statement that you just know he did NOT write: "As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause. I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.”
At least he didn’t claim to be checking into gay rehab -- either to become more sensitive to gay people or to be cured of one's own flirtation with homosexuality -- the way the actor Isaiah Washington (“Grey’s Anatomy”) did or the way the disgraced evangelical preacher Ted Haggard did.
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2 comments:
The distasteful nature of his comments aside,...
On one hand, I find it easy to justify a fine against him, if he signed a contract that binds his freedom of expression.
On the other hand, it seems wrong, somehow, that he or any other NBA employee would not be free to express whatever opinions they might like to - whether in-person, on the air, or via blog post
Because of the nature of his comments, I'm less motivated to scream, "Give me liberty of give me death." Still, there's something odd about all this.
What ER Shipp wrote was funny but oh so true. I actually watched a documentary on lesbians and gays around the world, and they did a study. I won't go into detail because it'll be kind of long, but it showed how people who consider themselves homophobic are actually suppressing their gay urges and are scared to let it out. It was pretty interesting.
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