The sports world continues to react to the shocking Jaden Ivey saga. The former Chicago Bulls guard was waived by the team after releasing a video on social media bashing the NBA for Pride Month initiatives, including many teams celebrating “Pride Night.”
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right? They proclaim Pride Month, and the NBA does too. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness,'” Ivey said in an Instagram video. Ivey is an outspoken Christian and cites his faith as the primary reason for his critique of the LGBTQ celebrations across the league.
Bruce Pearl, the former Auburn head coach and current CBS/TNT college basketball analyst, is someone who understands what it’s like to face persecution for religious beliefs. Pearl is Jewish and speaks openly about issues facing those who share his faith. Not everyone takes kindly to that.
Pearl joined OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me With Dan Dakich” on Wednesday and expressed empathy for Ivey while calling out the NBA’s handling of the situation.
“The problem is Dan, when you say something, like as an American Jew, when I say something about Islam or Islamic extremism, I’m ‘out of line,’” Pearl said, relating Ivey’s situation to his own.
Pearl argued that the NBA should not discipline someone for declining, on religious grounds, to publicly support a lifestyle they believe conflicts with their faith.
“I think that it’s amazing what a free society we have in this country, where different lifestyles are accepted … I think it’s fine to support the LGBT community publicly. I [also] think it’s fine to say, based on my faith, I’m not going to [support the LGBT community],” he said.
The important point here is that the NBA promotes itself as the league of “tolerance” or “inclusion,” but it obviously only tolerates or includes beliefs with which it agrees (or provides it with billions of dollars).