“I was at fault” Heat icon Tim Hardaway speaks out on ‘I hate gay people’ comment
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Tim Hardaway
Tim Hardaway has made his way back to the NBA headlines as recently he talked about the bizarre, disrespectful and truly hurtful comments he made about gay people around 15 years ago. The story this time though is very different as Miami Heat icon Tim Hardaway is a changed man now and he regrets what he said almost a decade and a half ago. In the past, he also claimed those comments to be the reason behind him not making it to the Hall of Fame but soon he’ll be inducted as the league announced earlier this year. He was an absolute player on the court but his off court comments really took away a major part of the love and respect fans had for him.
On February 14, 2007, in an interview with Miami’s “The Dan Le Batard Show”, Tim Hardaway showed out to the world that he is homophobic. By replying to the question of how will he treat a gay teammate of his as former NBA player John Amaechi came out gay during that time. Tim Hardaway replying to it quoted: “First of all I wouldn’t want them on my team and second of all you know if he was on my team I would distance my self from him because I don’t think that’s right and I don’t think they should be in the locker room while we in a locker room. It’s just a whole lot of the other things so I wouldn’t even be a part of that…Well, you know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known…I don’t like gay people. I don’t like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
Those comments of him were really full of pure hate and hurt many around. He almost got himself canceled after that. But soon he was making up for his mistakes as after the criticism he was a changed man, apologized multiple times, even stood up for the LGBTQ community and did everything possible to get it correct. But, after 15 years the reason behind Tim Hardaway’s “I hate gay people” comments is revealed and now people are accepting his apology as many believe he wasn’t really at fault but again he made a mistake and that was very wrong.
Tim Hardaway reveals the reason behind his ‘I hate gay people’ comments
Tim Hardaway in a recent interview with Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle revealed the reason behind his hateful comments for gay people. As he quoted: “I grew up in a church, and that’s the way churches were… they instilled in you that (homosexuality) wasn’t the way you should be. I was just taught differently. Don’t talk to them, don’t mess with them, leave them alone. I never tried to talk bad about them or do hateful stuff. It was just my upbringing in church. But I’ll tell you this: It was so wrong of me, and people have suffered. I had to grow up and really do some soul-searching. What I said was just hurtful.”
Tim Hardaway’s reasoning behind his comments is understandable for many fans around but what he did and said confidently is and will always remain wrong. So he deserves a lot of criticism and hate he has been getting for 15 years now. But since it wasn’t him but his upbringing and church lessons, just blaming him for those comments is unfair and now when he is trying his best to make up for it a chance should surely be given to the Hall of Famer.
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Ritik Malik
(1743 Articles Published)