NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway must have been worried that he'd be the chosen one to literally take the 'hard-away' from former fellow player, and now out-of-the-closet Gay man, John Amaechi.Mr. Amaechi wrote a book about being a gay man in the NBA entitled "Man in the Middle" which ain't a bad name for a gay porno flick, come to think of it.
On a Miami radio station, Hardaway, an African American, said," You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic."
He continued , just in case we didn't get his point, " I don't like it. It shouldn't be in this world or in the United States".
Let me clarify...he doesn't like gay people! But, at least, he thought out his comments. When I asked him what world it should be on, his answer was ,"Uranus!"
So much for his pre-game prayer with the Reverend Ted Haggard, his scheduled speech next week at the Rock Hudson Film Retrospective and his gig as a spokesperson for Vaseline.
Yesterday Mr. Hardaway was banished from this week's NBA All Star game in Las Vegas. In the spirit of Vegas, the sports book was giving odds that NBA Commissioner David Stern would toss him and if you put some money down, you did all right! The new book is 'what time do you think his flight leaves". That's 7-1 for Saturday morning.
Mr. Stern handled it well. He had all the All Stars line up and said, "OK, all you All Stars playing this weekend, take one step forward. Not so fast there, Hardaway."
Mr. Hardaway did apologise by saying, "As an African American,I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause and I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feeling and reactions."
Maybe it's me, but why do I have the feeling he didn't write that! Amazing how he learned that right after he said the hate speech.
In the meantime, I suggest he check his mail. I'm sure there'll be a "Welcome to the Club" letter from Mel Gibson!
