ESPN co-host Max Kellerman condemned “white grievance politics” Monday during a segment about calls for the NBA to suspend Los Angeles Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell, who is black, for allegedly calling white player Luka Doncic a “bitch-ass white boy” during a game.
“The kind of white grievance politics that goes on in this country right now is an outrage. The fact that white people are — it’s a generalization, but it works if you look at the way the country voted, for example, in the last general election — had this whole kind of grievance politics. White people in America have grievance politics? Think about how insane that is,” Kellerman said, referring to calls for the NBA to suspend Harrell over the alleged comments.
“B!tch a$$ white boy”
– Montrezl Harrell to Luka Doncic pic.twitter.com/tlzxIFOerz
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 22, 2020
“So those people who are talking about the double standard, again — they’re embarrassing themselves,” he added. “Of course there is access to certain words in our vocabulary, slang words in particular, that are more available without social sanction against it to oppressed groups than the groups that have oppressed. This is like baby stuff.”
Outkick columnist Gary Sheffield Jr. is among those who called for Harrell to be suspended, highlighting that Doncic would probably be off the court if the roles were reversed.
“The solution here is simple, even if many won’t like it: the NBA has to suspend Montrezl Harrell and send a message that race-based derogatory comments like his on the basketball court won’t be tolerated. The NBA has already set this precedent with gay slurs on the court, why not with racial-based insults as well?”
ESPN host Jay Williams echoed some of Sheffield’s comments in a video he posted to Twitter, calling the comments “not acceptable.”
“I am no lip reader, but damn, Trez. Damn, Montrez. I can only imagine if Luka Doncic had something like that to you and it got caught on tape. I can only imagine during Black Lives Matter how much of a big deal that would have been, considering today’s climate and state,” he said.
“It would have been a massive story. Luka would have lost all credibility in this space. Everybody would have been commenting on it. People would have asked LeBron about it. People would have asked [another player] about it. Everybody would have had some kind of statement about it, but it’s not that big of a story because Trez said it to a Caucasian person,” he continued.
Harrell reached out to Doncic following the exchange and apologized to him, according to Clippers coach Doc Rivers.
“You just have to be careful,” Rivers said. “They both were talking. I don’t think Luka was saying anything racial, but he was swearing. So they both were doing it. It’s an emotional game. It’s a playground game out there in the playoffs. I said to him, ‘Hey, I don’t think you meant anything racially by it.’ He said ‘white boy,’ but I don’t think there was anything racial intended. But we are in a very heightened climate, and you have to be careful. Trez was the first one to say that. He said, ‘I didn’t mean that racially.’ And I said it doesn’t matter. It’s what’s perceived. … Make sure you do the right thing.”
