- ESPN.com.
According to actor Chris Wylde, Drew Gooden, 90, from the Mavericks called him and his friend “faggots” Saturday night at their game in L.A. against the Clippers. Wylde and friend admitted to innocent heckling but did not expect this sort of retaliation. Outsports covered the story here. According to the article, Mavs owner Mark Cuban has taken the position of dealing with it internally.
Wylde, who is not gay, e-mailed Cuban to complain. In it, he said “It’s not bad enough we (L.A. Clippers) have the worst record in the league, but to literally be hate crimed by a millionaire is repulsive.” Cuban later told OutSports, “For the record, I heard their heckling during the game, some was funny, some not as innocent as they want to make it sound. That doesn’t excuse any homophobic commentary from anyone, but it does make me want to get confirmation.”
Wylde’s friend did not want to go on record about the incident. The Dallas Morning News reported that the NBA has not looked into the allegations. According to IMDB, Wylde is listed as a cast member in the CBS Web show, Heckle U. The plot summary on IMDB describes the show as “the story of a slacker Chance and his best friend Darrell who have the ability to change the course of a basketball game by heckling the opposing teams into submission. Chance is pushed to excel as a heckler and take their theatrics to the next level by his Uncle Lou.”
Hmmm. Maybe Wylde was just doing research.The Mavs play the Utah Jazz tonight at the AAC.
Cuban also alledgedly said, in part, that: ‘…it’s just as wrong to accuse someone of being homophobic as it is to make homophobic comments.”
I get that he wants to defend his player, and the reputation of his franchise, but he’s dead wrong here. He needs to know it.
POINTING OUT the homophobic behavior of athletes like NFL player Larry Johnson, or of former NBA players like Tim Hardaway, or of NBA owners like the late Larry Miller, or the anti-gay comments of NBA coaches like Jerry Sloan…..in NO WAY compares to USING anti-gay language or demonstrating homophobic, anti-gay behavior.
If it turns out that Gooden has been falsely accused (and I will acknowledge that the story isn’t exactly rock solid at this point), then he is owed an apology. But the wrongs aren’t equal.