Kobe Bryant fined $100,000 for gay slur

[Gameface]

https://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2...-bullies-who-used-to-tease-my-friends-because

Kobe says he beat up bullies in HS who ‘used to tease my friends because they were gay’
Rick Chandler Apr 18, 2011, 12:35 PM EDT
1 Comment

How did I miss this? Apparently, in high school, Kobe Bryant was some sort of avenging angel; a mixture of Superman and Robin Hood, who battled oppression in the halls, near the freshman lockers, in the lunch area, or wherever it occurred. Also, Kobe had many gay friends, whom he spent much of his waking hours defending with fists of fury. It’s all right here in his comments to ESPN’s Lisa Salters on Sunday. Concerning the gay-themed epithet he hurled at a ref last week:

“Even though I didn’t mean it that way, I’ve since learned what that word still means to a lot of people,” Bryant told Salter. “I went on-line myself and I did my own research and I saw and I read about kids who were committing suicide because of being teased for who they are. I don’t play that. I used to beat up a lot of kids even in high school who used to tease my friends because they were gay, or because they were black, or because they were Jewish, or because they were yellow, or because they were whatever. For people who don’t think my apology is sincere, they don’t know me. This isn’t over for me. I really plan to do more. What I said was ignorant and I really didn’t realize what I was saying. Now that I do and realize how it affects people I really plan to do more and to help with the awareness.”

So far, no former classmates who are yellow or Jewish have stepped forward to corroborate Kobe’s story. Perhaps there’s a black, gay, Jewish guy somewhere who owes Kobe his very life, and is only waiting for the right moment to reveal himself. Maybe for a book deal.

Forgive my cynicism, but I also doubt that Kobe ran home and got on the computer, hurriedly typing ‘f****** fa****’ on Google to do “research” (but sitting through the Charlie Chaplin movie first).

But I could be wrong.

Look, Kobe seems to be bending backwards (sorry) to make amends for his little fit, and that’s good … except that nowhere has this included an actual apology. You can skip all the high school flashback theatrics by just saying ‘I’m sorry, I was wrong, and it won’t happen again.’ That’s all anyone wants to hear.

 

[LogGrad98]

I grew up in the 70's and 80's. I remember watching the SNL skit with Chevy Chase and Richard Pryor about the N-word (look it up if you haven't seen it, really funny). And you know, I think the N-word, for me at least, has never been more prominent than after we changed it to "the N-word". Yeah you sometimes saw it in movies or read it in books (still do read it in books from time to time), but in regular everyday speech I rarely heard the word, and if I did, I didn't really notice it. Now it jumps out at you. "THE N-WORD!" Not to mention the fact that my black friends, with whom I have been playing basketball weekly on and off for a decade, now say the actual word more than I have ever heard them say it before. Makes me think of the Heisenberg Unceratinty Principle and the more colloquial definition: you cannot observe something without changing it.

I am not sure whether that is a good thing or bad thing in this case. Is it better that we are more sensitive to it so we are more careful how we talk? Or is it bad that we hear it more or the substitute is so prevalent that it brings the actual word to mind far more than if it were just used as it was in the past?

Makes me wonder.

 

[Champzz]

I think it's more offensive for society to tolerate black people using the n-word than it is for white people to use it. It's like we're saying "We're white, we should know better. We've oppressed these guys for so long, they deserve a break." But many black people use it in the same connotation it was used by white guys in the sixties, and the fact we don't think we have to censor them is us saying "They're black, they don't know better. But us white people, we know it's wrong." In my opinion, any time we make a double standard it's us saying one group has a higher moral ground.

 

[TroutBum]

I think it's more offensive for society to tolerate black people using the n-word than it is for white people to use it. It's like we're saying "We're white, we should know better. We've oppressed these guys for so long, they deserve a break." But many black people use it in the same connotation it was used by white guys in the sixties, and the fact we don't think we have to censor them is us saying "They're black, they don't know better. But us white people, we know it's wrong." In my opinion, any time we make a double standard it's us saying one group has a higher moral ground.

This is why I hate everyone equally.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Awesome.

 

[NUMBERICA]

No fine and no punishment. So stupid, this PC **** now....now the Lakers are working with Glaad? Pathetic...
As usual, the vocal monority PC police must all thump their chests saying how horrible this is. Pppplease.

Things are always better when the majority gets it their way regardless of whether it's good or bad, right or wrong.

 

[Bronco70]

I hate Kobe, but I'm not sure 100,000 fine was the right call. I think a one game suspension would have been more appropriate.

If it makes you feel any better, Kicky issued him an infraction.

 

[LogGrad98]

Things are always better when the majority gets it their way regardless of whether it's good or bad, right or wrong.

You make a good point. But it does seem the pendulum is swinging. More and more the "vocal minority" is deemed right on any issue and the majority left by the wayside.

 

[freakazoid]

If it makes you feel any better, Kicky issued him an infraction.

I would have preferred a good knee-capping, but I guess that'll do for now.