Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 in April because he called a referee a f*ggot during a game. Joakim Noah called a fan a “f*cking f*ggot” twice during Sunday night’s loss to the Miami Heat and he was fined $50,000. According to CBS Sports, Bryant was fined more for his ignorant shout because it was directed at a league official. The NBA also since made the commercial for the “Think Before You Speak” campaign to spread awareness of the damage that comes with calling someone gay. To recap – Kobe paid $100K for calling a ref the derogatory F-bomb and Noah will pay half that amount for calling a fan the same thing. A fan. The person who pays to see the product. The person who is targeted by the hate speech campaign. Rock solid logic.
Athletes will never stop using words like f*ggot or gay as insults because they just won’t, unless the leagues really start attacking their wallets. But for Noah, I have a better idea – instead of the NBA fining him, the gay community should make him the new face of prejudice. It worked for preserving Rick Santorum’s legacy, so why can’t it be applied here?
More than likely, though, Noah will just cut a check and act like nothing happened. Hopefully he’ll think long and hard about it after his vacation starts next week.
