Here is what Kobe had to say.
“What I said last night should not be taken literally.”
“My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. “
“The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.”
That is good enough for me, because I think he is telling the truth. Like it or not the term “faggot” is used frequently and not neccessarily as a swipe against the gay community, but to basically say someone is soft, weak or a punk. With that being said I am sure Kobe wouldn’t like someone calling him a “n*gger” and then saying it doesn’t reflect my feelings toward the “African-American community.
I hope he learned his lesson to be more creative when he was to talk about the ref. Those words are very hurtful to the gay community regardless of the context.
Lets not get too carried away with the situation. Kobe isn’t the only one spewing out this type of venom on the court, he just happened to get caught by the cameras.
We can all move on now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t84p7mcK2Pk&feature=player_embedded