Lakers' Kobe Bryant is fined $100,000 by NBA for anti-gay slur to referee

[phk]

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by the NBA on Wednesday and criticized by numerous gay-rights groups for directing an anti-gay slur at referee Bennie Adams during a game Tuesday against San Antonio.

Bryant was irritated after he was called for an offensive foul and received his 15th technical of the season during the game. He punched a chair on the Lakers' bench before he sat, threw down a towel and yelled "Bennie!" before muttering a curse word followed by the word "f****t."


http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-kobe-bryant-lakers-20110414,0,2493777.story

[angus]

"f****t."

well, at least he didn't call the guy a "homosexual"


It must be gayday or something.  Seems like a large number of threads here have some gay angle.  Or is it possible we're reading far, far too much into all this?  Isn't it just possible that he called the guy a f****t not because of his perceived sexual orientation?  I have a colleague with a twisted sense of humor that calls me gay all the time.  For example, I use a coffee press to make my coffee.  I boil my water in a 1000-ml beaker on a ringstand over a gas flame.  It goes very quickly, then I pour it onto the coffee my Bonjour brand coffee press, quickly press it down, and serve it to myself piping hot.  That way I can taste all the slightly water-soluble volatile organic oils on top before they evaporate.  With a traditional drip, you don't get those flavors.  Anyway, when he first saw my coffee press, which he calls a French Press, he said, "OMG, that's so gay."  Or, when he walked by my office and I had my eyes closed, singing along with Andrea Bocelli, in italian, at a particularly beautiful stanza in "Canto Della Terra" and he popped his head into my office and says, "Dude, you are so gay."  It's just his sense of humor.  He's a tad older than I, and his generational sensibilities are probably different.  But he's a very nice guy.

Seriously, if you want to chastize the guy for calling the other guy names, then that's one thing, and if you generally want to just break a heavy bottle over Kobe Bryant's head because he's such a jerk, well that's another thing too, but to say that his remarks had something to do with any "anti-gay" sentiment, based solely on the basis of his hasty remarks, is unjustified.

It seems like every time I turn around somebody is calling somebody else a biggot.  It's a slippery slope, and it desensitizes us to genuine bigotry when it exists.  Very unfortunate.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

"f****t."

well, at least he didn't call the guy a "homosexual"

Good point.......that would mean he was "anti-gay", according to Joe's theory and that might have cost him $250k and a 10 game suspension.

[King]

"f****t."

well, at least he didn't call the guy a "homosexual"

Good point.......that would mean he was "anti-gay", according to Joe's theory and that might have cost him $250k and a 10 game suspension.

Homosexual attacks sexuality, f****t attacks personality.  Either way, David Stern is a moron.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

David Stern is a moron.

Not really, a bit of controversy ought to increase the ratings some.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

"f****t."

well, at least he didn't call the guy a "homosexual"

Good point.......that would mean he was "anti-gay", according to Joe's theory and that might have cost him $250k and a 10 game suspension.

Homosexual attacks sexuality, f****t attacks personality.  Either way, David Stern is a moron.

[Brittain33]

angus: is it bigoted against Poles if you call a stupid person a "dumb Polack", even if he isn't Polish? Or does the fact that he doesn't have to be Polish mean that there's nothing offensive about it?

[angus]

Possibly.  It's a good question.  Thought-provoking.

I'm not defending Bryant.  Clearly his conduct was not very sportsmanlike.  And the league is within its prerogative to give him a thorough wrist-slapping.  But, to be honest, even before I was born professional sports had evolved from pure sports to a hybrid entertainment/sporting event.  And in my lifetime, it has nearly completed that evolution from hybrid to nearly pure big-business, corporate-sponsored entertainment.  Not unlike the news, really.  So we don't really hold our professional athletes to the same standards as we hold, say, olympians.  Olympic athletes are meant to be wholesome and show great integrity.  They represent our great nation and carry our dreams.  Professional ball players are really more like Madonna, or Samuel L. Jackson, or The Dixie Chicks, aren't they?  Well, they're not players on the stage, or musicians, or movie stars, but they are more entertainers than athletes nowadays, and their salaries and off-court behavior reflects this.  And sometimes their on-court behavior as well. 

I guess dumb polack comes off as bigoted.  But a polack is never a twig, or a leukemia cell, or a meatball.  And that's not what this is about really.  He talked nasty to another player, so fine him.  Great.  End of story.  This isn't any business of GLAAD or any other organizations who keep their radars tuned to controversy hoping to make headlines.  It's a matter for the NBA.  And its fans.  And it seems to me to have nothing to do with anyone's sexual orientation.

[DrScholl]

The league certainly doesn't like the players throwing around slurs like this, so no surprise they fined him.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I wonder if Kobe would have brushed it off so lightly if a white guy had muttered the n-word after Kobe had fouled him... my guess is that he wouldn't have.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I wonder if Kobe would have brushed it off so lightly if a white guy had muttered the n-word after Kobe had fouled him... my guess is that he wouldn't have.

[bullmoose88]

A homophobe, a rapist, and a black man walk into a bar and one of the patrons says, "hey Kobe, can I have your autograph?"

[angus]

Hey, what happened to my post?

Okay, I was being a smart-alek, so maybe I deserved it.  It's a subtle point, and may or may not have gone over the head of whomever deleted it, but Joe, aren't you also the guy who wants to replace a reasonable sociological demographic identifier with a hip/mod slang term that is obviously vernacular and refers to homosexuals in a way that makes them seem somehow more festive or friivolous than "real" men?  You should be very careful.  I have observed that you are generally an intelligent, considerate poster, but you have made some of the silliest, most indefensible statements with regard to homosexuals in general, who deserve the same rights as everyone else, in my opinion.  And along with those rights and privileges, comes the right to take, as well as dish out, free speech.

Again, I don't think Bryant's remarks had anything to do with homosexuality, but since the thread keeps heading in that direction, it's important to keep pointing out the obvious.

[Joe Republic]

but Joe, aren't you also the guy who wants to replace a reasonable sociological demographic identifier with a hip/mod slang term that is obviously vernacular and refers to homosexuals in a way that makes them seem somehow more festive or friivolous than "real" men?

No, and apparently you misunderstood me if you think that's the case.

[angus]

Fair enough.  And it's probably bad etiquette on my part to muck up this thread.  See yours.

[MaxQue]

Good. To me, the question is not "anti-gay" or not.

It is insulting a referee which is the problem to me.
It gives a bad example to kids (and their parents, really) playing sports.

And punching a chair shows he has temper issues.

He deserves the fine.

[Brandon H]

I don't like Kobe and I think he's a jerk. That said, if this was a bench player instead of Kobe, would this still be news?

[bullmoose88]

I don't like Kobe and I think he's a jerk. That said, if this was a bench player instead of Kobe, would this still be news?

Of course not, because bench players arent the faces of the sport.

[© tweed]

society likes to apologize in this way. an icon says some slur and omg the uproar. guess what? this form of apology is non-material.

[© tweed]

fast forward to 2015. the Minnesota Timberwolves are good and Kevin Love is among the top 3 players in the NBA. he fouls out of a key game and calls the referee a "nig*er".   imagine?!?! the media firestorm would ensue. he'd probably go into some extensive counseling program and volunteer in the black neighborhoods of New York and Chicago just to rehab his image. but black men would still be incarcerated at absolutely sick rates in this country. their earning power would still be a fraction of mine and yours. so society is happy to jump on the slur-hurler but when it comes time to pony up we like to maintain our caste-system, going on 400 years old being generous.

[Mechaman]

Good. To me, the question is not "anti-gay" or not.

It is insulting a referee which is the problem to me.
It gives a bad example to kids (and their parents, really) playing sports.

And punching a chair shows he has temper issues.

He deserves the fine.

Maybe, but $100f***ing000 dollars?
Really?

[MaxQue]

Good. To me, the question is not "anti-gay" or not.

It is insulting a referee which is the problem to me.
It gives a bad example to kids (and their parents, really) playing sports.

And punching a chair shows he has temper issues.

He deserves the fine.

Maybe, but $100f***ing000 dollars?
Really?

Well, for Kobe Bryant 100000$ is like 100$ for us. If not 10$.