After Jeremy Lin — he of the ever-changing coiffure — switched to dreadlocks, the Nets guard wrote an essay in the Players Tribune explaining his initial trepidation over fears of cultural appropriation.
Wednesday afternoon one former Nets player waded right into those waters with both feet, Kenyon Martin first ripping Lin’s hair and appropriation of black culture, and then blasting those that criticized his less-than-tactful comments.
“Do I need to remind this damn boy that his last name is Lin. Like, come on man. Let’s stop this man, with these people,” Martin said in a Youtube video. “Like, there’s no way possible he would’ve made it on one of our teams with that bulls–t going on on his head.
“Come on, man. Somebody really need to tell him, like, ‘Alright bro, we get it. You want to be black.’ Like, we get it. But the last name is Lin, alright?”
Martin played for the Nets from 2000-04, and was outspoken even then. He and teammate Alonzo Mourning nearly fought when Martin made fun of the latter’s life-threatening kidney disease, later apologizing.
But he wasn’t apologizing for his comments about Lin, doubling down later on Instagram.
“I see I done ruffled a few of y’all feathers. Good. Take y’all comments to the bank and see what they give y’all for ‘em. That’s what I think about them, first and foremost,” said Martin, adding he disapproved of Lin’s choice to go with dreads.
“But that man grown. That man can rock whatever hairstyle he want to rock. That don’t mean I have to agree with it. … Second of all, I’m grown. I can say whatever I want to say about whatever I want to say it about. It ain’t about race, it ain’t about none of that. Grow up people; it was a joke. But I don’t like it, I don’t agree with it.”
In a case of comedic irony, Martin has had Chinese script tattoos for years.
In Yao Ming’s book “A Life In Two Worlds,” the Chinese star translated the tattoos and said, “His letters mean, ‘Not aggressive’ or ‘indecisive.’ Anyone who has seen Kenyon play knows he isn’t like that.”
No, Martin doesn’t lack for decisiveness. Playing for the Nuggets at the time, he responded on Denver radio, saying the tattoos actually mean “never satisfied.” He also implied Yao couldn’t understand Chinese, but said the 7-footer would get a better look at the tattoo when he ran over him en route to a dunk.
For his part, Lin took the high road in a reply on Martin’s Instagram post.
“Hey man. Its all good you don’t have to like my hair and definitely entitled to your opinion,” Lin said. “Actually i legit grateful you sharin it tbh. At the end of the day i appreciate that i have dreads and you have Chinese tattoos bc i think its a sign of respect.
“And i think as minorities, the more we appreciate each others cultures, the more we influence mainstream society. Thanks for everything you did for the nets and hoops … had your poster up on my wall growin up.”