The only real line to be drawn between Edwards and Sarver is that the number of players who are engage in homophobic behaviour & language is likely much larger than the league would like to admit.
Just like most of the owners are much worse in their behaviour than the league would like to admit.
Otherwise we should leave the Edwards discussion in the Edwards thread, I think.
Everyone is trying to act outraged by Sarver, but there’s no A/V evidence and nobody died by suicide as a result of Sarver’s behavior. Bullying of LGBTQ youth has been a thing forever because of nonsense like Edwards’ comments being tolerated. NBA players need to police Edwards before thinking they have some standing to question the Commissioner’s maximum penalty for Sarver. And anybody who is just so outraged by Sarver’s reported behavior has to look in the mirror and ask them self why they think Sarver should be banned from the NBA for life but Edwards should be given a $50K fine, particularly given the absolute absence of audio/visual evidence against Sarver and how Edwards’ comments do considerable harm to minors (minors were obviously not impacted by Sarver’s behavior).
Let’s help LGBTQ youth by being outraged such that Edwards gets banned for a year, and not be another puppet in someone’s quest to essentially steal the Suns from Sarver, which is probably what most of this is all about. The owners know if Sarver goes down over this without any A/V evidence and no jury finding him guilty of a crime or civil wrongdoing, any one of them could be next.
We literally have a video of an NBA player with anti-gay slurs that was posted online by the player. It’s being emulated by some wayward youth, and affecting LGBTQ youth. The NBAPA should request the NBA suspend Edwards for a year for this. This should be the moment to show this is no longer tolerated. Like Sarver, Edwards can spend the next year thinking about how his behaviors affected others and can come back rehabilitated with a second chance given.
If your argument is that homophobic comments horrible because homophobic bullying can lead to suicide, I get that.
But to then argue that Sarver’s actions never led to suicide is, at best, inconsistent.
If someone associated with employment at the Suns had died by suicide, we definitely would have read about it in the report. Nobody is reading about Sarver’s behavior and thinking, “I’m going to do that too.” Can we definitively say no youth have seen Anthony Edwards’ comments and not modeled it, and not emulated it? Of course not. I bet absolutely anything that Edwards’ comments have influenced some wayward youth and made live hell for some poor LGBTQ youth somewhere.
The NBA for far too long has tolerated homophobia. It needs to stop. The fact Jason Collins is still the only openly gay NBA player during his career after nearly a decade is all we need to know, really. This moment with Edwards is an opportunity for the NBA to really help progress things by sending a clear message to Edwards and everyone that there is zero tolerance for homophobia moving forward.
Sarver engaged in racist and sexist language, physical sexual harassment, belittling and bullying, etc. Certainly, that sort of unhealthy, hostile workplace has led to suicides, right?
Absolutely, but not in the specific instance of employment with the Suns and there is no way anybody is emulating Sarver in the wake of this. The report says there was no racial or sexist animus, and obviously nobody has died by suicide as a direct result or it would be plastered everyone.
The fundamental difference is that tolerance of Edwards’ homophobia is having a gross impact on wayward youth. There should be a clear message to the LGBTQ community that homophobia is no longer tolerated in the NBA. Where’s the calls for Edwards to spend time off like Sarver thinking about what he said/did? It’s been how many days since he posted that disgusting video, and not even a fine/suspension? Yes, this is a clear message from the NBAPA and NBA that they tolerate homophobia and do not really care about negatively impacting LGBTQ youth, many of whom are in hostile environments and vulnerable situations. But, boy, oh, boy, we can go after Sarver to force a sale of a franchise that benefits X, Y, Z? Oh yeah. Business is all that matters, not the influence these players have on the youth of America?
I guarantee this continued toleration of homophobia in the NBA is doing far more harm to more people than what Sarver did to his employees. Sarver deserves a year suspension and $10 million fine. Edwards deserves a comparable penalty.
The bottom line: Racism, sexism, anti-semitism and homophobia are all wrong, and need to be treated as equally wrong at long last. Enough is enough. If an NBA player displayed sexism, racism or anti-semitism on par with Edwards’ homophobia, there would be far more outrage than what Sarver did. Yet there’s not been a peep from LeBron and other players. Nothing. Dead silence. Because so many think it’s ok. It’s not.
Topic: Robert Sarver suspended one year, fined $10 million (Read 11781 times)