Minnesota Timberwolves player Andrew Wiggins says he absolutely did not call opponent Dennis Schröder of the Oklahoma City Thunder “gay” during a postgame interview this week.
The 23-year-old guard was speaking to reporters after the Timberwolves beat the Thunder 119 to 117 Tuesday evening. When asked about Schröder, who was ejected from the game for shoving, it sounded like Wiggins replied:
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Uh, he was just gay. He was acting crazy for no reason. I look right through him. He’s not someone I look at as a problem. Not at all.”
Here’s the clip:
Andrew Wiggins said he was not worried about Dennis Schröder trying to step to the Timberwolves. "He was acting crazy for no reason." #thunder pic.twitter.com/gjkEcugVSi
— Michael Kinney (@EyeAmTruth) January 9, 2019
The media quickly latched onto the story, prompting the NBA star go on Twitter and deny accusations of homophobia, claiming he said “getting” and not the word “gay.”
Id like to clarify what I said tonight during my post game media session. I said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with him he was just getting… acting crazy for no reason”.
— andrew wiggins (@22wiggins) January 9, 2019
I have the utmost love and respect for the LGBTQIA community and I would never use any term to disrespect them in anyway.
— andrew wiggins (@22wiggins) January 9, 2019
Deadspin reports:
That is a clarification, not an apology, yet the coverage from a variety of outlets of Wiggins’s less-than-decipherable comment has been just as unclear. An ESPN bumper headline reads “Wiggins: Meant no disrespect with ‘gay’ remark,” while the headline on the page reads “Andrew Wiggins: Would never disrespect LGBTQIA community.” In their unbylined post, they twice directly quote Wiggins as calling Schröder “gay.”
An AP article (syndicated by NBA.com and others) was initially headlined “Wolves’ Wiggins apologizes for using gay as derogatory term,” but that was recently changed to “Wolves’ Andrew Wiggins tries to clarify postgame comments.” While the AP deleted their tweet with the original headline, the story still quotes him as saying “gay.”
Folks on Twitter seem divided over it as well.
So Andrew Wiggins actually has a good game for once. Then he goes out to his post game press conference and calls an opposing player gay. Stupid.
— Ryan (21-18-3 45 PTS) (@RyanRocks188_) January 9, 2019
@TheFrankIsola andrew wiggins is canadian and has a accent. He was saying “he was getting..” not “he just gay..”. Listen again lol.
— steven clarke (@steveyfresh) January 9, 2019
Lol Andrew Wiggins just buried himself with the "He's just Gay" comment. ????? Now the keyboard thugs are gonna come after him. #2019
— Disgruntled Sports Gamer (@TDE1987) January 9, 2019
all the gigantic sports media companies are insisting Andrew Wiggins said something homophobic when it's completely obvious he didn't. Demonizing black athletes is clearly very important for reproducing power relations in these lands
— HANDS OFF CITGO (@pluriversal) January 10, 2019
It’s unfortunate that’s Andrew Wiggins has one of the best games of his life and all anyone is talking about is how he called Dennis Schröder gay.
Wiggs has got some growing up to do.
— Angry Mn Sports Fan (@Mn_Sp0rtsfan) January 9, 2019
If you’re keeping track at home the Timberwolves have done the following in the past 7 days. 1. Fired their head coach and president 2. Derrick Rose told people to “kill themselves”. 3. Andrew Wiggins called a player “gay” in a press conference.
— AdamVoigt4 (@Voigt4Adam) January 10, 2019
People seriously clowning Andrew Wiggins for saying LGBTQIA but that's the one thing that convinces me he's not a homophobe and didn't actually say gay
(also if you watch any Wiggins interviews, the dude speaks in mumbles that could pass for Soundcloud rap. I legit believe him) https://t.co/AD0xe1JlLx
— hey andrew! (@__heyandrew) January 10, 2019
As our friends over a Towleroad note, the NBA has punished players in the past for using antigay rhetoric. Most recently, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was fined $25,000 last November for using derogatory and offensive language in a postgame interview.
Bob LaBlah
With his pleasant demeanor and looks I am shocked Dennis Schroder even made it into the NBA. The NBA prefers a certain “type” of player who looks angry every time he slam dunks a ball and Schroder does not fit into that stereotype. You go Dennis. Let them all know there are one or two out there who are happy with their lives and life itself.
Scout
So what if he said his opponent was just gay?? Who cares?
iamru2
Well a weatherman just got fired for jumbling his words where people accused him of saying coon live on air purposely , so by those standards this guy should be fired immediately.
Bob LaBlah
Could you please post the link to that firing? Thanks.
Scout
Are they sure he wasn’t referring to raccoons and how the winter was going to be tough on them? My grandfather and I used to hunt for coons in the NH woods back in the 50’s because they were gnawing on the rubber tires of any vehicle they could find, and of course, they’re nocturnal animals and were hard to catch in the act.
Kangol
He did say “Martin Luther C–n”; he wasn’t just accused of it. He apologized for doing so too.
iamru2
Suit not suite for the spelling nazis lol
Bob LaBlah
I just saw the video on the evening news and feel he got exactly what he asked for. King does not nor ever has sounded like coon. Al (the kiss asz) Roker has come to his rescue which does not shock me.
Brian
Oh no, he definitely said it accidentally. And do you know why? Because that’s what he’s been calling MLK his whole life, so that’s what instinctively came out of his mouth when it came time for him to say it correctly, and that’s why he immediately caught it and corrected himself. Because he knew that might happen. Out of all of the words that he could randomly stumble upon instead of “King”, “coon” would not be one of them.