Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pens a column for The Hollywood Reporter these days, and in his latest offering, he weighed in on the firestorm surrounding HBO talk show host Bill Maher. The polarizing comedian was the #1 trending term on Twitter for much of Friday night due to his using the N-word while interviewing Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse.
Abdul-Jabbar, yes the very same Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who is the all-time leading scorer and player with the most career wins in NBA history, says he doesn’t think that Maher should be fired for what he did.
“There are plenty of contexts in which a white person using the N-word would be appropriate and inoffensive,” the legendary Laker, ranked the second best NBA player of all time by ESPN, wrote in the op-ed.
“Maher used the word once before while appearing on Larry King’s CNN show when commenting on Newt Gingrich’s accusation that then-President Obama held a “Kenyan anti-colonial worldview.” Maher responded that “Kenyan, of course, was code for n—er.” In that situation, he was condemning Gingrich’s coy racism with a harshness that was justified and incisive. This time, however, was not the same.”
Many were calling for Maher’s head this past weekend, and the whole sequence of events was reminiscent of when his career nearly ended in 2001 over comments he made six days after 9/11.
He agreed with the guest on his show, extremist conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza, in saying that the 9/11 terrorists did not act in a cowardly manner (in rebuttal to President George W. Bush’s statement calling them cowards). Maher said:
“We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly. You’re right.”
The tone deaf commentary led to sponsors pulling out, future guests backing out and then ABC failing to renew the show.
Flash forward to this week, where HBO sent out a statement to media outlets, calling Maher’s remarks “inexcusable and tasteless” and said the cable network will remove that segment from future airings of the show. Maher also issued a statement apologizing for the remarks.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar seems to be satisfied with these measures, while also pointing out the multiple ways in which Maher failed as a pundit and social commentator here. Abdul Jabbar doesn’t believe that Maher should his pay for this mistake with his job however. The man considered the greatest center of all time wrote about as insightful, measured and balanced a take as you will find on this incident. Here is another excerpt from THR column:
Intent is important. Clearly, Maher’s intention was not to demean blacks.
Was Maher insensitive? Absolutely. Inappropriate? Definitely. Smug in appropriating the word for cheap humor? Check. Yet, there was no malevolent intent.
Maher is a worthy and incisive voice in political humor who made a mistake and apologized. Inadvertently, he caused the issue to be debated, raising awareness and hopefully sensitizing people. I just wish it was for an insight rather than an insult.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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