Pages
▼
Monday, May 23, 2011
What would his father say? Joakim Noah imitates Kobe Bryant... down to the initial feeble apology
Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was caught on camera shouting "f**k you, faggot" to a fan seated behind him at a Miami Heat basketball game tonight. He used the slur while sitting on the bench after arguing a call with a referee.
From ESPN Chicago:
"I got caught up," Noah said, looking honestly apologetic. "A fan said something and I said something back. I apologize. I don't know what's going to happen. But I got caught up. I don't mean no disrespect to anybody. I just got caught up."
While he wouldn't say the offending word again in front of the cameras -- a wise move -- after the initial media gaggle dispersed, Noah quietly repeated what he said to that fan to his locker neighbor Taj Gibson. I witnessed the brief conversation from a few feet away.
It was exactly the word the lip readers surmised, the same one that cost Kobe Bryant $100,000 when he spat it at a referee earlier this season. Noah will pay a fine and the drama over that incident should end.
It's an act that should be taken very seriously. Maybe he should read up on what Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts went through before coming out last week.
I'm really waiting for a day when a current major pro-sports player will come out. There is indeed a great deal of homophobia within professional sports and I know that if someone is able to show them that we are just as good, if not better, than the rest.
ReplyDeleteI know it can be done. Law enforcement used to be very intolerant of anything other than white male christians. Now it has become a very diverse career field with Women, GLBT, Latino, Islamic and many other groups being represented within its ranks.