NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar weighs in on Anthony Edwards' anti-gay comments



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NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar weighs in on Anthony Edwards' anti-gay comments

NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar thinks Anthony Edwards should make up to the LGBTQ+ community by doing some voluntary community service with their organizations. Earlier this month, Edwards filmed himself while using homophobic slurs and anti-gay comments.

Edwards deleted the video from his Instagram Story, but it had already spread. Edwards apologized later in a tweet and admitted his actions were wrongful, but Abdul-Jabbar feels he needs to do more. "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 wrote on his substack. "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."

Edwards hit with a big fine

On Tuesday, the NBA announced that Edwards was fined $40,000 for "using offensive and derogatory language on social media." The NBA took some time to review Edwards' actions and announced their decision this week.

"Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $40,000 for using offensive and derogatory language on social media, it was announced today by Byron Spruell, President, League Operations," the NBA said in their statement.

Shortly after Edwards' video spread, the Timberwolwes star took to Twitter, where he apologized to the LGBTQ+ community. Edwards admitted that he was immature in his actions and vowed to do better next time. "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!" Edwards wrote on Twitter. Edwards knew that he was in trouble as soon as his video went viral.

The NBA has made it clear in recent years that it won't tolerate any homophobic or anti-gay comments. In the end, Edwards was hit with a $40,000 fine by the league.