NBA referee Bill Kennedy reveals he is gay; Rajon Rondo alleged to have made slur to him

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-referee-bill-kennedy-reveals-he-is-gay--rajon-rondo-made-alleged-homosexual-slur-to-him-174255321.html



NBA referee Bill Kennedy reveals he is gay; Rajon Rondo alleged to have made slur to him



Adrian Wojnarowski By Adrian Wojnarowski
57 minutes ago
Yahoo Sports
Bill Kennedy, one of the NBA's top referees, has revealed he is gay.



"I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man," Kennedy told Yahoo Sports on Sunday night. "I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are."


Bill Kennedy has worked 18 seasons as an NBA referee.


Kennedy declined further comment on his announcement.


NBA commissioner Adam Silver delivered a statement of support for Kennedy.

"I wholeheartedly support Bill's decision to live his life proudly and openly," Silver told Yahoo Sports in a statement. "Throughout his 18-year career with the league, Bill has excelled as a referee because of his passion, dedication and courage. Those qualities will continue to serve him well both as a game official and as a positive influence for others. While our league has made great progress, our work continues to ensure that everyone is treated with respect and dignity."

Kennedy's announcement comes in the wake of the NBA's suspension of Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo, who game officials, including Kennedy, heard unleash a disturbing torrent of anti-gay slurs following his ejection from a game on Dec. 3 in Mexico City.

After Kennedy, 49, ejected Rondo with consecutive technical fouls in a Kings loss to the Boston Celtics, Rondo defied league protocol to immediately leave the court and began stalking Kennedy, who had retreated to a far sideline of the floor.

In the game officials’ report used as part of the NBA's investigation – which includes details provided to Yahoo Sports from National Basketball Referee's Association general counsel Lee Seham – Kennedy and fellow referee Ben Taylor described Rondo's post-ejection diatribe as including the statements: "You're a mother------- faggot. … You're a f------ faggot, Billy."

Seham reported that a third official, Bennie Adams, outside of hearing distance, "affirmed that Rondo aggressively pursued referee Bill Kennedy and had to be restrained by teammates and escorted off the floor by Sacramento team security."

The three officials – Kennedy, Taylor and Adams – confirmed those reports in taped interviews conducted by NBA security on Dec. 4, Seham said.



Kennedy (right) said he is proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man. (AP)


Seham told Yahoo Sports: "The NBA referees stand by Bill Kennedy for the job he does and who he is. We stand against bigotry in all its forms."
In suspending Rondo on Friday, the NBA issued a statement saying that he had been punished for "directing a derogatory and offensive term towards a game official and not leaving the court in a timely manner."

Under typical NBA procedure in these cases, the league had two independent experts review the tapes of the confrontation, and they confirmed the referees' accounts on Rondo's language. This was part of the reason why the league took more than a week to make a ruling on Rondo's punishment.

Rondo denied to league officials he made the comments. When reached on Monday, a Rondo spokesperson declined comment.

Rondo is the third NBA player to be punished for the use of anti-gay slurs, but the first to be suspended. Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 during the 2011 playoffs for making a slur toward a heckling fan, and Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using an anti-gay slur toward a referee earlier that same season. Both players apologized for the comments.

Rondo – who is making $9.5 million this season – is suspended for Sacramento's game against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. He will lose $86,300 in game salary for the suspension.

Kennedy is the second NBA referee to make a public announcement about being gay. Referee Violet Palmer revealed she is gay upon getting married to her longtime partner, Tanya Stine, in 2014

Across 18 NBA seasons, Kennedy has officiated 1,056 regular-season and 68 playoff games, including five NBA Finals games. For FIBA, he officiated in the 2010 world championships and the 2012 Olympics. He remains the only referee to work the NBA All-Star Game, NBA Finals and bronze-medal Olympic game in the same calendar year.



bob
MY NOTE:  Bill Kennedy will probably, someday, be in the HOF as a ref.  The likelihood of Rondo getting in, in any capacity, becomes more remote with each immature tantrum, each unprofessional outburst.  DeMarcus Cousins has said that, if necessary, he will kidnap Rondo himself to keep him on the team next year.  If Rondo's PR machine doesn't crank up into high gear, and I mean REAL soon, that might be what will be needed, because the NBA sees gays as fans too.  If Adam Silver was willing to drive a racist multi-billionaire owner from the league don't think he wouldn't bounce an overtly hostile homophobic Rondo too.  From an owner's perspective, he's an embarrassment.  Between Dallas and this incident his market value, the reward of his play minus any cancerous effects he has in the locker room or with the team's fan base, will drop even further.  I, for one, enjoyed watching him while he was here, but I am very glad he is gone.  I am glad he is gone so I don't have to watch him walk the ball up anymore, don't have to watch him brick clutch free throws, don't have to watch him hog the ball.  I'm also glad because the Boston Celtics is a classy organization (look at how Danny and Wyc found a home in the organization for all-round good guy Leon Powe) and Rondo is not a classy man.  Rondo was thinking of a post-playing career in the fashion industry.  Is he unaware of how many gays there are in that business?  He just alienated every post-basketball employer and endorser as well as many of his potential future basketball employers and endorsers.


.

This is really disappointing if true. Unfortunately I am pretty sure many players still feel similarly to Rondo - the difference is that most are now smart enough to realize open homophobia will hurt their "brand".

I agree with Bob, its more than a little ironic that Rondo is so into fashion and so anti-gay...

Ok so Rondo is obviously not the only one to make gay slurs. Of course he did not fess up or apologize which makes it even worse.

He'll be playing again next year...and make millions because no one really cares

dboss

I wish Rajon would get a handle on what really undermines his peace of mind. Who knows what demons lurk there, but they are really messing with his serenity. I loved him as a player, despite his agonizing slow crawls up the floor which became unendurable once the Big Three were gone. I feel sorry for him as a person.

As for whether or not a ref is gay, what business is it of anyone's except for the ref himself/herself? Rondo has always had boundary issues. I hope this becomes a learning experience from which he benefits. He needs to get a clue, badly.

worcester wrote:I wish Rajon would get a handle on what really undermines his peace of mind. Who knows what demons lurk there, but they are really messing with his serenity. I loved him as a player, despite his agonizing slow crawls up the floor which became unendurable once the Big Three were gone. I feel sorry for him as a person.

As for whether or not a ref is gay, what business is it of anyone's except for the ref himself/herself? Rondo has always had boundary issues. I hope this becomes a learning experience from which he benefits. He needs to get a clue, badly.

1/82 of his pay for the one game suspension??

Not nearly enough of a financial hit IMHO.
Perhaps there is a fine on top of this I am unaware of

beat

bob Why is Kennedy going to the HoF? is he that great of a ref?

What is Leon Powe doing now? always loved his game.

dboss wrote:Ok so Rondo is obviously not the only one to make gay slurs.  Of course he did not fess up or apologize which makes it even worse.

He'll be playing again next year...and make millions because no one really cares

dboss

didn't hurt Kobe or Noah

Thanks bobbyc didn't know Leon was part of Celtic management, very aware of his life story, hes never been in the headlines for anything bad/dumb like most professional athletes....always thought he was/is a class act, glad hes still part of the franchise.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob Why is Kennedy going to the HoF? is he that great of a ref?

What is Leon Powe doing now? always loved his game.

cow,

This is a pretty good career, and he isn't done yet.


Across 18 NBA seasons, Kennedy has officiated 1,056 regular-season and 68 playoff games, including five NBA Finals games. For FIBA, he officiated in the 2010 world championships and the 2012 Olympics. He remains the only referee to work the NBA All-Star Game, NBA Finals and bronze-medal Olympic game in the same calendar year.


Thanks, bobc, for jumping in and answering Cow's question about Leon.


bob


.

Rajon Rondo: 'I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone'

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/rajon-rondo---i-did-not-mean-to-offend-or-disrespect-anyone-021445461.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma


SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo tried to clarify on Twitter why he made a homophobic slur to longtime NBA referee Bill Kennedy, but stopped short of publicly apologizing for his actions.

Rondo initially denied directing the comments at Kennedy during the NBA's investigation of the Dec. 3 incident, but tweeted late Monday afternoon that he made the slur "out of frustration and emotion" after Kennedy ejected him from the game. Rondo's tweets came hours after Yahoo Sports published the details of Rondo's homophobic comments in a story in which Kennedy announced he is gay.


 Rajon Rondo
✔  ‎@RajonRondo  
My actions during the game were out of frustration and emotion, period!

 Rajon Rondo
✔  ‎@RajonRondo  
They absolutely do not reflect my feelings toward the LGBT community. I did not mean to offend or disrespect anyone.

Rondo practiced with the Kings on Monday, but did not speak to the media afterward. He is suspended without pay for Tuesday's home game against the Houston Rockets for "directing a derogatory and offensive term towards a game official and not leaving the court in a timely manner upon his ejection."

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive apologized to Kennedy in a statement on Monday.

"Rajon's comment is not reflective of the culture of the Sacramento Kings organization or the world we want to live in," Ranadive said in the statement. "He's apologized, and has been suspended by the NBA. On behalf of the team, I apologize to Bill Kennedy for any harm this may have caused."

Kings general manager Vlade Divac said the franchise didn't support Rondo's "unacceptable comments.

"It went too far," Divac said. "What he said, he doesn't mean that. We don't support it as an organization. When I saw him today, he apologized. He felt it was a bad call [by Kennedy], but definitely it was wrong. The sanctions on [Rondo] will be supported.

"He felt bad and he didn't mean to offend anybody. He said something that is unacceptable."

Divac later apologized to Kennedy in a call, but was not certain if Rondo would reach out to Kennedy.

"I was a player and this doesn't have anything to do with Bill or any other referee," Divac said. "They do a great job. I felt bad as a person and also felt as the general manager of the organization we don't support that."

Kings coach George Karl said Kennedy is a "good referee" and he was "disappointed" in the comments from Rondo that he deemed "out of character."

"We had a distracted practice today," Karl said.

Rondo is averaging 12.6 points, a league-high 11 assists and 6.9 rebounds with the Kings after signing a one-year, $10 million contract last offseason. The four-time All-Star struggled with the Dallas Mavericks last season and his attitude was questioned. Prior to this incident, Rondo appeared to be having a good season with the Kings. Rondo will be eligible to return to the court for Friday's road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

"Other than the Mexico City game, I can't remember the last bad game he's had," Karl said of Rondo. "He's played above my expectations. He's played at an All-Star level. His numbers say you should talk to him about him being on an All-Star level. He's exceeding my expectations."

gyso

Thanks for sharing.

Hope he learns a lesson from this.

He still has a lot of good basketball in him and he needs to play well but mostly be a nicer person.

dboss

dboss,

Being a nicer person, that's something I have to work on every day.

gyso

gyso

Me 2

Rondo is hardly missed here, he was gone at the right time, before the Celtics had to give him more money than he will never make.

It is funny, while he was here, it was hard to realize what this team would be like without him. Since he left, we got a real vision of the future. The headache was certainly not worth it. I do not miss him walking the ball up the court, going from side to side, holding on to the ball until it was almost too late for someone to get off a good shot, and then, the turnover. He refused to operate under a new system and Danny saw that almost immediate once he came back from his injury.

I am glad he is gone before he had a negative influence on the young guys on his team. I do not care what happens to him now because, obviously, he is the master of his own ship and he will sink it sooner or later.

It is very sad to see a talented young player like Rondo implode, maybe he will or maybe he won't, but it is not the Boston Celtics problem anymore.

As far as hiring former players to represent the Celtics, this is a long standing tradition. Leon Powe is a fine young man who gave everything he had while he was here, he was a fan favorite. Great that Danny found a spot
I am sure he is doing alot of the things that JoJo White was doing before his health scare. Another fine man to represent the Celtics.

Bring on Paul Pierce!!!

Rosalie

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2015/12/14/doc-rivers-reportedly-once-used-anti-gay-slur-against-referee-bill-kennedy/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs



Doc Rivers reportedly once used anti-gay slur against referee Bill Kennedy



Rajon Rondo reportedly used an anti-gay slur against referee Bill Kennedy, who came out publicly today as gay.

That’s apparently not the only time Kennedy faced such harassment.

Disgraced referee Tim Donaghy – whose testable claims were widely disproven – outted Kennedy in 2010 and claimed Kennedy held a grudge with Doc Rivers, because Rivers questioned Kennedy’s sexual orientation. Donaghy was obviously correct about Kennedy’s sexual orientation. What about the grudge with Rivers, who now coaches the Clippers and previously coached the Celtics?

Prominent NBA gambler Haralabos Voulgaris:

Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob
Good for Bill Kennedy, one of the most famous ref beefs vs a coach was him vs Doc. Doc used a derogatory term vs him https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/676463581592965120 …
10:09 AM - 14 Dec 2015
 77 77 Retweets   96 96 likes


Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob
I heard what Doc called Kennedy, it wasn't too hard to predict Doc getting the shaft in future Kennedy games. Grudges are real.
10:11 AM - 14 Dec 2015
 43 43 Retweets   56 56 likes


Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob
Sounded exactly the same.  https://twitter.com/jacobfagan/status/676465840485736449 …
10:17 AM - 14 Dec 2015
 2 2 Retweets   10 10 likes


Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob
Actually I was at the game. But thanks.  https://twitter.com/JohnKelley98/status/676468853543694336 …
10:30 AM - 14 Dec 2015
 4 4 Retweets   50 50 likes


Haralabos Voulgaris @haralabob
It was Eastern Conference Playoffs between Boston and Chicago https://twitter.com/vgmusic16_jm/status/676470206307307522 …
10:35 AM - 14 Dec 2015
 2 2 Retweets   2 2 likes


The Celtics and Bulls played in the 2009 first round, but that wasn’t the start of the long-lasting feud between Rivers and Kennedy.

Rivers and Kennedy were both fined for an incident late that regular season. Rivers was ejected and claimed Kennedy goaded him into it by starting him down.

Rivers also drew a fine in last year’s playoffs for criticizing officials following a game worked by Kennedy’s crew.

The NBA needs to enact a procedure for all its employees – including referees – to report workplace harassment, if it hasn’t already. The league disciplined Rondo, but if Rivers made similar comments, Kennedy should have had a place to report him. Kennedy shouldn’t have to just take that abuse.

That’s how it spreads.

To be clear, Rondo – who played for Rivers’ Celtics in 2009 – bears full responsibility for his own actions. That he heard his old coach say something similar is not a mitigating factor. Now is not the time to suddenly believe Rondo listens to his coach.



bob



.

Doc Rivers and Bill Kennedy both have said that Doc never used an anti-gay slur against Kennedy.
I believe those two over a disgraced felon referee and an attention seeking gambler.

http://deadspin.com/report-doc-rivers-never-used-anti-gay-slur-against-nba-1748096658


 Howard Beck
✔  ‎@HowardBeck  
Re Doc/Bill Kennedy: Contrary to story that’s circulated, Kennedy has told confidantes that Doc never used a gay slur during confrontation
9:13 AM - 15 Dec 2015


 Howard Beck
✔  ‎@HowardBeck  
Also, sources say NBA investigated Doc/Kennedy incident at the time. Doc was fined $25k. Would have been much stiffer penalty for gay slur.
9:13 AM - 15 Dec 2015

Making slurs is never a good thing. And I'm not even sure if context matters, but sometimes people will make that comment towards someone regardless of sexual orientation.



KJ

And in England is fag is a cigarette.

I must be old or something but the way I was raised included being taught to say what I meant...

 I'm so sick of folks making remarks and later retracting them,  saying that's not who they are or whstever... 

 If I say something then by God what you heard me say is exactly what I meant... I may be sorry someone else can't handle my opinion  but I'll always own up yo what I say...

 Isn't this taught anymore? 

  Also... 

  Again is it just me that's sick and tired of hearing about athletes (or refs now) announcing their are gay?

 Good greif... A ref who is really good at his job will almost never even be noticed-  now someone whose supposed to be damn near non existent  feels inclined to let the world know he has sex with members of his own gender... something that has no effect whatsoever during the 48 minute periods that happen 82 times a year in which his existence has any meaning to me. 

  I could not possibly care what anyone else's sexual preferences are but I'm pretty sure that whatever they are -whoever you are- it has no effect on putting a round ball threw a basket which the only thing I'm concerned with..

 It makes me sad.. If basketball is forever going to be linked with everyone announcing their sexual preferences my days as a fan are numbered.

Matty, Kennedy has reffed for 18 years without talking about his sexuality. When Rondo insulted him on those grounds, it was Kennedy's right as an American with the 1st Amendment to speak up for himself. He wasn't trying to make this a big deal. Rajon did that for him.

Matty wrote:Good greif... A ref who is really good at his job will almost never even be noticed- now someone whose supposed to be damn near non existent feels inclined to let the world know he has sex with members of his own gender... something that has no effect whatsoever during the 48 minute periods that happen 82 times a year in which his existence has any meaning to me.

Rondo is the one who forced the issue by making profane homophobic slurs at Kennedy. As worcester said, Kennedy was perfectly fine keeping this to himself, but when Rondo directed those slurs directly at Kennedy, he forced the league to take action in the same way as if a player directed a racial slur directly at another player or a ref, and Kennedy announced that he is gay to put Rondo's behavior and the league's action against Rondo in the proper context.

Kennedy's sexuality has apparently been common knowledge among those in the league for quite some time, at least since he was outed in a book by disgraced ref Tim Donaghy. But even after that, Kennedy didn't publicly announce anything about it until the Rondo incident, and he wouldn't have if Rondo had kept his mouth shut.

Excellent posts Worcester and Outside!!!

I've gone 52 years and never told anyone about my sexuality. I'm heterosexual! Anyone? Anyone?! Crickets? OK, nobody cares? That's what I thought. I have no further questions, your honor.

db

For the first 11 years of my life I had no idea what sex was. None at all. Those were the best years of my life. Here's a poem I wrote about it:

My mother's spinach pies
were the warm steaming
of my life
in those years
before the women.