Posted on 02/15/2007 2:27:25 PM PST by meg88
The NBA today removed Tim Hardaway from its All-Star weekend activities, a day after he said, ''I hate gay people'' in a radio interview with a Miami Herald sports columnist.
''It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours,'' NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement issued by the league.
Hardaway issued an apology several hours after making the comments on The Dan LeBatard Show on 790 The Ticket. ''Yes, I regret it,'' he told WSVN-Channel 7. ``I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that.''
Members of gay organizations reacted swiftly to Hardaway's comments.
''Obviously, I'm disappointed in Tim Hardaway being that Tim Hardaway was one of my favorite basketball players,'' said Donnell Morris, managing director of Black Gay Pride of South Florida. ``It creates a hostile environment for any player contemplating coming out of the closet.''
He added: ``For Tim to be a person from Miami where there has always been a diverse community, he should have been more sensitive to his environment. . . . I've always looked up to Tim as a leader. For him to take a stance that way really hurts me.''
Steve Adkins, president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Hardaway's apology makes no difference. 'It is a very simple process to say `no' or 'I'd rather not comment' than to go on the record and make malicious and bigoted statements,'' Adkins said.
``. . . Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age has these kinds of feelings, they're not intelligent enough to keep them to themselves. Beyond that, there is no place in our society for that kind of hatred and bigotry. End of story.''
(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...
They ought to just ignore this guy. He has a right to say he hates someone. It's stupid, but that's a fact. Kids on a playground say exaggerated statements all the time. Usually when a person matures, they out grow the need to say that they "hate" someone.
I suspect he really meant to convey that he abhors the behavior of some of the radical gays who push an agenda, etc. The stupid news media and the thought police no longer allow honest/immature statements to be kept private. They stand on the street corner and announce it to all the world.
The Executive
The Legislative
The Judicial
The NBA
What's funny is that Mark Cuban was raving how great it would be for a current NBA player to come out and how much endorsements he could get, and how accepted he would be by the other players.
Maybe by the Euro players, but the brothers still have a big problem with gays.
Yeah, I can see all the young kids running around in their "Air Elton's"
Gay people hate gay people. They just take it out on the rest of us.
That's not entirely accurate. Gay take it out on themselves too, as is evidenced by their propensity to die young drug abuse, alcoholism, and ingestion of various icky germs.
Did Congress make a law that abridged Tim Hardaway's freedom of speech? If not, then that PART of the First Amendment is not dead. Certainly not the whole thing.
Charles Barkley once said "I hate White people"
...crickets were heard shortly after
You do realize that his comments on the radio have nothing to do with the First Amendment? I.e. NBA not equal to government.
LOLISOM!!! (Laughing out loud in spite of myself)
I see the NBA is being tolerant and inclusive again. If it didn't come from their sausage factory, then they ban it and call it bad. It looks to me like this guy can only be in touch with his feelings if they are PC.
He is just believing in free speech. Does it matter if you agree or disagree? Such is free speech. To pick on this guy denies him free speech.
Did Congress make a law abridging his freedom of speech? If not, and they didn't, then that part of the First Amendment does not apply.
" To pick on this guy denies him free speech.'
That has to be from Free Speech for Dummies.
Big business is enforcing PC.
They are strangling freedom in this country.
Suppose he had said he hates Christians, and the NBA punished him. Would you still say big business was 'strangling freedom?'
Well, since when does an American who says he hate gays be in trouble for speaking his mind. His punishment from those who do not agree could come in many forms. No one has a problem with gays painting straight people with a brush of hatred by association, just for being straight. I have always wondered where in this whole game was it considered a public crime for being honest? A person may not like his opinion, but has this guy committed any crimes against gay people? If he had not have been asked this question, would he have expressed it? For being honest, how is that criminal, or at the very least subject to ridicule?
Why would you say that?
How many brilliant proposals put forth by the enlightened class start out this way and work their way into Federal, State or Local law? We all understand what the amendments say, just concerned about the slippery slope we are all on.
NO.
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