Amar’e Stoudemire has enough to worry about as the co-owner and ostensible star of a team in the far-flung?outpost of Israeli basketball league. He probably didn’t need to attract the attention of a pair of ex-NBA players who slammed the former Knick’s homophobic views.
After Stoudemire told an Israeli website he would “shower across the street” and “take a different route to the gym” to avoid a gay teammate, gay ex-pros Jason Collins and John Amaechi got in their jabs against Stoudemire.
Amaechi got particularly personal in his criticisms, telling TMZ, “These are serious times, and we need serious people to lead important conversations, not petulant man-children sprouting puerile prejudice.”
Ouch.
Collins, who played parts of eight seasons with the Nets throughout a 13-year NBA career, posted on Twitter: “His homophobic comments have no place in sport or in our society.”
Hapoel Jerusalem, the team Stoudemire plays for and co-owns, released a statement walking back the New York City icon’s offensive statements.
In the statement, Stoudemire said the questions about having a gay teammate were hypothetical and his answers had a “comedic undertone.” He said he is “deeply sorry for offending anyone” and is “open to creating a dialogue to assist the LGBT community encounters daily.”
Judging from the reactions of Amaechi and Collins, Stoudemire probably should choose his words a little more carefully next time he wants to start a dialogue.