I'm often on the side of no racist intent with these things.
When Meyers Leonard said his Jewish slur, I could buy he didn't know what it meant.
But if that slur was being thrown around in his game chat, and then Leonard said Adam Silver is that slur. I'd find it very hard to believe he didn't know what it meant.
And if he followed it up with he didn't mean Adam Silver, he meant Steven Adams, I wouldn't believe that at all.
You're telling me this guy just accidentally said one of the very few mainstream names of people who would seem to fit this slur, and I'm supposed to believe that he just misspoke?
The most believable excuse to me would be he didn't realize it was an offensive term for Asians, but thought it was more a slang/colloquial term. Like referring to a Northerner as a yankee, a British person as a brit, or a Canadian a canuck. Before this, I had no idea this was a slur, but I find it improbable that this dude didn't know it referred to Asians. If he owned it, but plead ignorance, I would have probably believed him, but this just seems like a poorly thought out excuse.
And the excuse doesn't really make sense. If you're going the sexist route, it would make sense to throw out the name of an adult film star or an actress who has some famous topless scenes or a nip slip. Makes no sense to throw out the name of an actress who I don't think has appeared nude (and I don't think a body double used in a picture in Forgetting Sarah Marshall counts).
So what's more believable, he associated the word with Asians, or he used the word in a way most red blooded men wouldn't?
It's hard to really discuss this without the rules on sexual innuendo, but:
1. I can accept that somebody can get the names of Mila Kunis and Mina Kimes mixed up. Mi_a K___s.; and
2. If a man trying to make a joke up on the spot was going to name the "best nips", I'm not sure that he'd go through his entire mental catalog and pick somebody with well-known nipples. He'd probably just pick the celebrity he thought was the hottest and hope for the best. I mean, if somebody is answering this question in a sexist way, it's probably as reasonable to say "Anna Kendrick" (go Maine!) as Phoebe Cates.
Now, the debate: did I subconsciously pick Phoebe Cates because she's of Chinese-Filipino descent on her mother's side (I just looked that up in Wiki), or because she was in an iconic topless scene that is allegedly the most paused moment in the history of VHS?
#1, I could buy that as a stand alone situation.
But #2, maybe it's just my perverted mind, but to me, nips is just so specific. You go to your crudest locker room, and you're talking about "top nips" I'm not thinking hottest celebrities, or best (clothed) bodies, or people I want to sleep with, I'm thinking about actual nipples. That's why it seems like such a stretch to say Mila Kunis. And it's not like he was put on the spot to name someone, he injected himself in the conversation to say that. To interject yourself to say Mila Kunis would be a head scratcher to me, because she doesn't fit.
If he said Phoebe Cates (or said the girl from Fast Times), I wouldn't bat an eye, and would assume no racist intent.
There's 2 scenarios, one seems like way more of a stretch than the other to me.
Scenario 1: purposely named an Asian woman, when a homonym for an old, mostly forgotten racial slur that referred to Asians was brought up. Then made up the first excuse he could think of to cover himself.
Scenario 2: mistakenly named an Asian woman, when making a joke about nipples, when the person he meant to name wouldn't fit the joke, when the key word to the joke is also an old, mostly forgotten slur for Asians. Then told the truth to explain himself.
First one seems like less of a stretch to me, but maybe that's just from my personal experiences with nips and liars.
Always thought Sharon Stone was the most paused scene.