Jalen Rose has addressed his comments about Kevin Love playing in the Olympics.
The ESPN star has been all over the news ever since he recently said that Love was the only white player of the Olympic basketball team because of “tokenism.” Now, he’s issued a very weak apology but isn’t really backing down from his stance. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
Rose said the following in an Instagram video posted over the weekend, according to Fox News:
But you know why I’m apologizing right now? To the game. Because I’m what the game made me. I was raised by the all-time greats and you know what I would never want to do? Disappoint [Rose’s late mother] Jeanie Rose or disappoint the all-time greats that raised me…Not that I believe that you [Love] deserve to make the team. I’m pretty sure when you got the call too you were like ‘Word?! I’m on the squad.’ I know how this works ya’ll. He looked down at his phone and was like, ‘Yo, they want me? They’re gonna ignore these Cleveland Cav lost tape years?’”
Fox News also reported that Rose admitted in the video, which is more than 40 minutes long, that he was unaware of the fact the USA had previously sent an all-black team to the Olympics.
You can watch his full comments below.
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This is literally the weakest apology imaginable. Even though he admitted that he didn’t know what he was talking about with his all-black team comment, it still wasn’t great.
He didn’t apologize directly to Love for his racial comments about him being a token player on the squad, and that’s really the only person he needed to speak to.
ESPN’s Jalen Rose said a white NBA player made the Olympic roster because of “tokenism,” and we lack the “courage” to have an all-black team.
If a white pundit called a black athlete a token, he’d be fired and ESPN would go on a MASSIVE apology tour.
This is insanity. https://t.co/if5imgEVRQ
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) June 25, 2021
If Rose truly understood how dumb his words were when talking about the Cavaliers star, then he’d pick up the phone and address it privately with him like a ban.
He wouldn’t post some rambling video about how he needs to say sorry “to the game.” This is really just more nonsense.
ESPN Star Goes On Bizarre Rant About Race, Claims White NBA Player Is On The Olympic Team Because Of ‘Tokenism’ https://t.co/ls7RSH2BSy
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 25, 2021
This doesn’t need to be incredibly difficult. Just use some common sense and don’t call people tokens. It’s shockingly easy, in fact.