It's not about promoting or celebrating that he's gay....it's a way to put a stop to the slurs he gets called, from players who pretty much knew he was gay and went after him for it. Because Kennedy had not come out officially, it was just swept under the rug, since sometimes people use those slurs out of context. It's easier for people, and the league, to just think players throw random insults out out of frustration and anger, than to admit they were targeting someone with those words. Now, more players, coaches, and fans will probably be willing to stand against anything like this, which makes players like Rondo think twice about doing it.
The NBA allows refs went personal vendetta's do these games. Thats a new one. :roll eyes: The game has been lacking integrity for far too long now. The league should look into this(assuming they don't already know). Would this have any effect on Doc's position?
Context... "F___ing f**" "that's a gay a** call" If you're a player and didnt know that comments like this may hurt the ref...should get a pass. Should be considered a heated/at the moment comment. However, if a player DID know about his orientation and still made those comments...that player should be punished. The problem for the league is basically, they dont know if Rondo knew. Hence why I think his suspension was diminished to just a game. But to me its hard for him NOT to have known...considering that he was coached by Doc Rivers in Boston, who does have history with the ref. All in all, Bill Kennedy outed himself to the public and now every player has to be careful about using homophobic slurs around him.
Comments were pretty direct, more like the former, according to the refs' reports. And if you watch the tape, Kennedy tried to distance himself from Rondo, and Rajon followed him, FWIW.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">They absolutely do not reflect my feelings toward the LGBT community. I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone.</p>— Rajon Rondo (@RajonRondo) <a href="https://twitter.com/RajonRondo/status/676522970731446276">December 14, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Rajon Rondo's load of crap. . . . You think this apology would cut it if you called someone a "mother***ing n*****" instead of a "mother****ing f*****"? He did mean disrespect.
Announcing you are gay nowadays is so overdone in today's society. People do whatever they want nowadays. Yeah, he likes penises, does he want a cookie for it? /golfclap Whatever. I just want my refs to not be biased to the Rockets. Yeah, I'm looking at you Crawford.
I personally find it more alarming that refs are allowed keep their jobs when they use their position of power to settle personal vendettas. I don't care what people said to him, you don't target organizations because your feelings got hurt, that's just unprofessional and he should be fired for it.
informed about what? The homosexuals I know, don't care about this, in fact i doubt any of them even know it happened. The homosexual community's goal was never to break the NBA ref barrier. This has made none of their lives better.
Good on ya, Bill Kennedy. I really thought more people were aware of Donaghy's statements before today, and Boston has always known Rajon to be a POS. Lone rogue ref Tim Donaghy stays dropping truth bombs even though he's an even bigger scumbag for publicly outing a closeted individual. Grudges in sports and in life are certainly very real and not going anywhere given our human nature. Rondo's reputation will take a deservedly big hit as his words and actions were inexcusable. I know KG's legacy in my eyes was never the same after he told Duncan "Happy Mother's Day, mother@#%#@x!" when he knew full well that Tim had lost his mom at a young age. For me, what KG said was actually much more offensive even though there's little sense in comparing the two.
"The homosexuals I know" lol. So many people who "don't care" know sooo much about what the gay community wants, lol. Well since you're the expert I'll just let you win this one, this isn't something I care to argue too much about.
I don't generally agree with the above opinions, but I don't find them absolutely idiotic like some do. I get where they're coming from. That said, I think they're misapplied here. What indication is there that he's attention whoring? I'll freely amend that statement if he comes out with a book next month about being a gay ref. The answer is like what RV6 said below. He got put on the spotlight by Rondo yelling on the court, "You're a motherf***ing fa****! You're a f***ing fa****, Billy!" So he just went ahead it came out. I don't it would have happened without the Rondo incident. So yeah, I think y'all are just completely off in this instance when accusing Kennedy of trying to make this a big issue about himself. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-re...alleged-homosexual-slur-to-him-174255321.html