In today’s digital media world, comments from years ago can really come back to bite you. For NBA legend Tim Hardaway, that’s exactly the situation he now faces after one of his old quotes recently caught some attention online.
In a recent interview with Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle, the 55-year-old former hooper looked back on his past and reflected on his most regrettable and disagreeable statement.
Hardaway seldom explained why he felt that way 15 years ago and how the fallout hasn’t faded. This month, in an extended phone interview with The Chronicle, Hardaway elaborated on the roots of his previous views and how those long-ago remarks affect his life today.
“I grew up in a church, and that’s the way churches were — they instilled in you that (homosexuality) wasn’t the way you should be,” Hardaway said. “I was just taught differently. Don’t talk to them, don’t mess with them, leave them alone. I never tried to talk bad about them or do hateful stuff. It was just my upbringing in church. But I’ll tell you this: It was so wrong of me, and people have suffered. I had to grow up and really do some soul-searching. What I said was just hurtful.”
Hardaway backtracked slightly later in the interview, saying he doesn’t blame the church and “it’s on me, too.” But he was more forceful about the impact his comments have had on his post-NBA playing career.
The incident in question happened back during a 2007 interview, when Hardaway admitted to being homophobic.
Fifteen years later, Tim Hardaway’s words still reverberate in the world around him. They shadow him, torment him, stubbornly refuse to disappear.
“I hate gay people … I don’t like to be around them … I am homophobic.”
Unlike a lot of celebrities who fake an apology to save their career, Hardaway seems genuinely sincere here. We are all a product of our environment, and Hardaway was clearly instilled with a very particular set of beliefs.
Credit to him for not only growing out of that but also for owning up and acknowledging his past mistakes. That act alone sets him apart from other scandal-ridden athletes.
