Seth Vigdor
One of the NBA’s best refs, Bill Kennedy, has revealed that he is gay. While that shouldn’t come as huge news considering it’s the year 2015, an incident that happened with him and Kings guard Rajon Rondo is newsworthy. According to Kennedy, on December 3rd in Mexico City, Rondo leveled a slur at Kennedy.
Another ref that was working the game, Ben Taylor, recalls some of what Rondo said to Kennedy. Rondo leveled the anti-gay slur after he was ejected from the game.
Taylor states Rondo said the following: “You’re a motherf—ing f—-t. … You’re a f—king f—-t, Billy.”
From that, I have a question. Was Rondo aware prior to this incident that Kennedy was gay? Or was it just a case of a macho guy being a total douchebag and getting some “zingers” in while he was pissed? Either way, it’s still a total dick move by Rondo.
However, if Rondo was fully aware that Kennedy was gay, it makes him even more of a vile creature.
When initially questioned by league officials about said incident, Rondo denied he made the comments.
Once Kings head coach George Karl heard of this, he said Rondo’s comments were out of character and he was disappointed to hear it, and it was distracting the team from practice. So, there’s that.
Rondo had been suspended for one game for the on-court incident. The NBA issued a statement after the suspension that said that Rondo was suspended for “directing a derogatory and offensive term towards a game official and not leaving the court in a timely manner.”
Wow! A one-game suspension? That’ll teach Rondo. The NBA needs to come out more aggressively here and take a stand that says that they will not tolerate such sickening behavior.
Upon revealing himself to be gay, Kennedy had the following to say via Adrian Wojnarowski and Yahoo Sports.
“I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man. I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are.”
NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, responded to this news with this statement.
“I wholeheartedly support Bill’s decision to live his life proudly and openly. Throughout his 18-year career with the league, Bill has excelled as a referee because of his passion, dedication and courage. Those qualities will continue to serve him well both as a game official and as a positive influence for others. While our league has made great progress, our work continues to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and dignity.”
If Silver truly supported Kennedy, he would come out with a harsher punishment. This is an absolute disgrace.
Today, Rondo took to Twitter to apologize (I think).
My actions during the game were out of frustration and emotion, period!
— Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo) December 14, 2015
They absolutely do not reflect my feelings toward the LGBT community. I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone.
— Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo) December 14, 2015
But yet, he still didn’t say the words “I’m sorry.” That looks like he was told to go out there and clean up his mess, but he actually didn’t make it right.
The following tweet sums up my thoughts on that “apology.”
That Rajon Rondo "apology" perfectly exemplifies why forcing someone to make a phony apology for pr purposes is stupid.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) December 14, 2015
Agreed!
One man that never holds back how he feels is Spurs Head Coach, Greg Popovich. He weighed in on this incident via Pro Basketball Talk.
“Why would I be surprised? You see it all the time. It’s unfortunate, it’s disgusting, because Billy is a great guy, and has been a class act on and off the court. As far as anybody’s sexual orientation, it’s nobody’s business. It just shows ignorance to act in a derogatory way toward anybody in the LGBT community. It doesn’t make sense. But surprised, of course not. He showed a lot of courage.”
Well said, Pop. And shame on the Adam Silver and the NBA for lacking the grapefruits to take on Rondo and his nast comments head on and make an example out of him.