Why Anthony Edwards Must Do More than Apologize for His Homophobic Remarks

With the NBA season upon us once again, the world's best athletes will take to the court and perform at levels the rest of us can only dream of. Professional basketball players mesmerize fans with their jaw-dropping jumping abilities, creative shot-making, gorgeous passing, and unified teamwork. People from all over the world love watching NBA basketball and trying to emulate their favorite players on the playground and in their backyards. These superstars serve as an inspiration to kids from all walks of life but often LGBTQ+ youth are left out of the equation inside and around the culture of the sport.

Anthony Edwards, a rising star who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, found himself in hot water in September when he recorded a video in front of a nightclub using derogatory language directed against the LGBTQ+ community. Referring to a group of men on the sidewalk as "queer" in a derogatory way, he decided to ignorantly perpetuate the same tired opinions male professional athletes have about gay people.

Edwards immediately deleted the Instagram Story, and he apologized both on Twitter and in person during a preseason press conference. He was also fined $40,000 by the NBA for the remark. I would say he deserves the benefit of the doubt when deciding whether his penance was genuine, but there's simply too much baggage in the hyper-masculine world of men's basketball to give him that leeway.

Edwards says he's willing to do "whatever it takes" to own up to his mistake, but there's little evidence he'll make good on that promise. His jokes about gay people are just another example of casual homophobia within the NBA that makes LGBTQ+ people who love the sport feel like they don't deserve they belong. Edwards would do well to follow in the footsteps of the late Kobe Bryant, and not just in how he decides to style his game on the court. No, Bryant was never a fan of performative activism, instead always attempting to make sure he turned words into tangible results.

After Bryant cursed out an NBA referee with gay slurs during a 2011 game, he made great strides to prove he could change not only his own perception of gay people, but the ways other athletes and fans felt about the queer community. One of his best tweets came in 2013 when he discouraged a fan from using the word "gay" as an epithet. Bryant deciding that he was going to make a point to take that out of the vernacular of the people who watch him play basketball was an awesome way to show allyship for the community, and it's something Edwards could really try to shadow.

The saddest thing about this entire story is that a large swathe of NBA fans on Twitter felt like Edwards did nothing wrong. Comments ranged from "what happened to free speech?" to "they fined him for telling the truth." Until fans start getting upset at homophobia in sports, nothing is going to change. Instead, Edwards serves as a conduit for sexuality and gender bigotry that runs rampant in the world of basketball. It's devastating that a sport with so many Black players and fans turns a blind eye to the struggles of the gay community. Edwards and other Black NBA players have surely experienced racism at one point or another in their lives, therefore they should understand the pain discriminatory opinions inflict on you individually and as a group. What's even more upsetting is the possibility that there are closeted NBA players currently in the league who have to listen to comments from Edwards and fans that make them feel like they have to cover up who they truly are.

Sports are often a safe haven for those who love to play and watch them. They teach vital core values like hard work, acceptance, perseverance, and camaraderie. These are all things that get thrown out the window when the subject of queerness enters the picture, and when players like Edwards casually mock LGBTQ+ people. Gay athletes often feel like they have to hide a major part of their identity so they can participate and enjoy the fruits of their labor on the court. Not being allowed to see these two major identifiers intersect with one another (your life as an athlete and your life as a gay person) makes the whole experience feel incomplete, and it also serves as a direct contradiction to what being an athlete is all about.

If Anthony Edwards wants to truly change his own mind and the minds of others who watch the Timberwolves, he'll go to a Pride parade in Minneapolis in June. He'll speak out on Twitter and defend the LGBTQ+ community from deceitful fans and unintelligent commenters. These actions would show everyone who plays basketball that the tide is changing, and that gay people and hoops can have as much chemistry as a Draymond Green pass to Steph Curry for three.