Sports News
Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is calling out NBA player Anthony Edwards to do LGBTQ volunteer work for posting a video of himself making anti-gay comments while secretly filming a group of men.
The Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard shared an Instagram story video last week (Sept. 11) in which he is heard saying, "look at these queer ass n*ggas, man" as he secretly filmed a group of shirtless men from his car.
"Look at what the world done came to...," he continued in the video as someone laughed in the background.
He captioned the Instagram story video with "Dese niccas different" accompanied by laughing emojis.
After an onslaught of social media backlash, Edwards issued an apology later that same day via Twitter:
"What I said was immature, hurtful, and disrespectful, and I’m incredibly sorry. It’s unacceptable for me or anyone to use that language in such a hurtful way, there’s no excuse for it, at all. I was raised better than that!"
NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took to his Substack blog on Sunday (Sept. 18th) to dismiss Edward's apology and give his take on the situation.
"Yup, you should be ashamed," Abdul-Jabbar wrote.
He continued: "Another athlete, another anti-gay slur. Last year, Kevin Durant was fined $50,000 fine for using “offensive and derogatory language on social media” after texting messages that included threatening language and anti-gay and misogynistic slurs. He also apologized.
It would be easy to dismiss Edwards’ immaturity—he’s only 21—if not for the fact that we’ve seen so many cases of famous athletes and owners in the news spouting racism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. This damages sports in general and their teams specifically, and revives the old stereotype of the dumb, bullying jock."
Abdul-Jabbar concluded his thoughts, writing: "But more important, it perpetuates prejudice against a group and that prejudice often leads to restricting rights and to violence. I don’t think an apology—however heartfelt—is enough. Edwards needs to repair the damage with some voluntary community service with LGBTQ+ organizations, particularly youth groups, to show his support. If he can’t do that much to undo the harm he’s caused, then his apology is meaningless."
Anthony Edwards has not yet responded to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's advice and criticism.