A Gay Former N.B.A. Player Responds to Kobe Bryant
Last month Kobe Bryant called a ref a “fucking fag” on the court. (No censors out here in Internetland.) The NBA did the right thing and gave him a technical foul and a $100K fine. Kobe responded with a non-apology apology and stated he would fight the fine. John Amaechi, the first openly gay former NBA player, responded with an op-ed in the New York Times:
A young man from a Los Angeles public school e-mailed me. You are his idol. He is playing up, on the varsity team, he has your posters all over his room, and he hopes one day to play in college and then in the N.B.A. with you. He used to fall asleep with images of passing you the ball to sink a game-winning shot. He watched every game you played this season on television, but this week he feels less safe and less positive about himself because he stared adoringly into your face as you said the word that haunts him in school every single day.
Well said. The term “fag” is incredibly offensive and should not be bandied about so casually. (There’s little difference between what Kobe did and a white player (hypothetically) calling a black referee a nigger.)