HOUSTON, TX - MARCH 18: Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves takes the basketball up the court during their game against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center on March 18, 2016 in Houston, Texas.
On Wednesday, ESPN accused Minnesota Timberwolves star Andrew Wiggins of calling Oklahoma City Thunder guard Dennis Schroder “gay.”
The network claimed that he said, “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.”
Wiggins claims that he said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with him he was just getting… acting crazy for no reason.” The Timberwolves star is known to slur his words in postgame conferences and also has no prior history of homophobia. He took to Twitter on Wednesday to clarify his comment about Schroder.
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Here’s a video of the press conference:
Wiggins later tweeted, “I have the utmost love and respect for the LGBTQIA community and I would never use any term to disrespect them in anyway.”
Despite Wiggins refuting that he said the word “gay,” ESPN still ran the story with the headline “Wiggins: Meant no disrespect with “gay” remark.”
The article originally had a byline for Royce Young, a Thunder fan and the same guy who also accused the Timberwolves of laughing and chattering as Nerlens Noel lay unconscious during Tuesday’s game against the Thunder. Young’s name has since been scrubbed from the article. Here the Timberwolves were, definitely laughing and mocking the center and not standing hushed on their sideline as medics attended to Noel.
ESPN is now drawing criticism from the media about their coverage of Wiggins. Most discussions about the 23-year-old Canadian have been about his 40-point game and his dunk that knocked out Noel. Many NBA reporters called fro Wiggins to apologize for elbowing Noel in the face.
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