Runaway NBA Groom Richard Jefferson: "I'm Not Gay!"

NBA hotness Richard Jefferson, recently traded to the San Antonio Spurs from the Milwaukee Bucks, launches into Defcon 3 spin control after dumping his fianceé days before his elaborate wedding via email. The professional basketball player sets the story straight, literally, on the gay rumors "that have fluttered quietly around Jefferson for a few years" and were telegraphed to the masses this week by Page Six, Outsports and Deadspin report.

"The original New York Post story implied that Jefferson dumped his fiance as she waited in a church with her dress on and then skipped town without even telling his guests. Then in a follow up story—that Jefferson even gave an interview for—they said that he dumped her via email as she flew to New York for the wedding."

The Page Six folo  notes the former New Jersey Net "insisted a rumor he's gay had nothing to do with the breakup. 'I'm not gay,' Jefferson said. "That couldn't be any further from the truth. I have nothing to hide.'"

In order to "clear up the rumors" about his sexuality, the break-up and the "six-figure" settlement paid to the jilted ex-Nets cheerleader, the baller went on Howard Stern and Dan Patrick's radio shows. (NSFW: Cuz, you know, all the straight guys go on Stern to proclaim their sexuality.) On Dan Patrick's show—listen here—Jefferson insisted he was not gay because his parents were Christian missionaries and "that's the furthest thing from the truth and it sort of pissed me off. ... The worst thing you can do to an athlete is question him at that level."

Since 2006, there has been speculation around Jefferson, mostly due to rumors about a gay/bisexual/DL New Jersey Net that was seriously involved with Tyson Beckford. MediaTakeOut has also suggested Jefferson was the player in question. FWIW: Our initial impression of the break-up was there was a problem with the golddigger fianceé (e.g. refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement, etc). But it's always news when a celebrity launches a media tour to address "gossip" and rumors. What was that Shakespeare quote? "Methinks the lady doth protest too much ..."

UPDATE: DL "player" or "players" in NBA? Follow our Tweets.

Richard Jefferson Religious, Not Gay [Outsports]
Not Gay Jefferson Lets His Girl Down Easy [Deadspin]
Jefferson Clears Up Rumors [SI]

Comments

[Dalton]

>>>in order to "clear up the rumors" about his sexuality, the break-up and the "six-figure" settlement paid to the jilted ex-Nets cheerleader<<<

That says enough right there. A cheerleader? Golddigging much and he couldnt see that? smh

But yeah, straight guys dont need to tell everyone they are straight. Just ask Terrell Carter!

[SouLKid]

Ok so the worst thing that can happen to an athlete is having his sexuality questioned? REALLY?
To be honest even i never really thought he stopped the wedding bcoz he's gay but i don't think this was necessary either.oh well...the things these guys would do to get rid of those 'malicious' gay rumours! *sigh*

[Ravenback]

I've heard similar rumors about Richard Jefferson for years as well. One rumor even suggested that he and Luke Walton of the Lakers were an item because they used to live together during college. They run a basketball camp together, and reportedly Walton went with him on the trip to Paris that Jefferson sent the email from.

Who knows what anymore? I wouldn't be surprised. However, for whatever the reasons, he did the right thing in breaking off the wedding. I think that it was cowardly the way he did it, but if the passion and desire isn't there, then it won't magically appear after saying, "I do." But he may be going overboard with the "gay denial" campaign. Just don't get caught in a picture kissing a guy or in bed with dude.

[Baltimore Femme]

((The worst thing you can do to an athlete is question him at that level.))

As opposed to, you know, being accused of a crime like rape or murder? It's sooooo much worse to be accused of being gay?

HOW YOU DOIN' RICH?

[Baltimore Femme]

Oh and Rod you peed for that stretching photo. Miss Thing looks she is about vogue at the Latex Ball.

Butch queen realness with a twist!

[FREELEO]

i always thought he was attractive in a space alien sort of way.

[ty.rant]

"The worst thing you can do to an athlete is question him at that level."

I'm no NBA baller but I always thought the worst thing one could do to an athlete would involve knees and billy clubs.

And some of the story is misleading, making the situation seem as if Jefferson broke off the wedding as Quasimodo sat in the tower to ring the bells. But he broke if off with her DAYS before the ceremony was scheduled to happen. While still a cowardly way to do that, he's not as big a douchebag as this post may have you believe.

The only thing "misleading" was your rant. I never said Jefferson didn't break it off days before. I actually quoted a piece that critiqued the Post's original timeline and quoted Jefferson twice. Even an audio interview.

But you go ahead and keep defending (closeted?) athletes that say "the worst thing you can do" is call them gay. That was the point of the story. smh -RM

[seahawk]

I love these comments!
What it comes down to is the narrow definition so many black folks have for "gay."
Many seem to think that if you mess with cheerleaders, strippers and females in general, it makes you not gay - in spite of all the DL loving you do on the side.
Jefferson, Terrell, Puffy, Beckford and their ilk seem to think they can deny being "gay" as long as they dip their wick in some poon once in a while.
It's the oddest mindgame, but that might explain this rash of self-delusion among these sad people.

[FREELEO]

i think after tyson's car accident, he's seems different; freer.

[Ravenback]

@ ty rant

Read the post again. This post is not so much about how Jefferson broke off the wedding plans, but it's about him going around proclaiming that he isn't gay. He denies gay rumors by saying that his parents were Christian missionaries and being gay is the furthest thing from the truth...

Since many gay folks were raised in Christian homes and some of those homes were very strict and fundamentalist, we know that is such a lame reason for not being gay. The jist of this post is that he probably isn't making matters any better by screaming from the rooftops that he isn't gay. At least that's how I interpreted the post.

[elg]

Why couldn't he just say up front that he called off the wedding because she wouldn't sign a pre-nup?

That's as good a reason as any for a MILLIONAIRE athlete to call off a wedding.

[Anti-believer/Kmark/Fisholic/Non-fisholic/etc]

[DELETED. BANNED AGAIN. GRAPHIC SEXUAL LANGUAGE, VIOLATION OF TERRELL CARTER DISCUSSION RULES. -RM]

[Leimert Park]

"But he broke if off with her DAYS before the ceremony was scheduled to happen. While still a cowardly way to do that, he's not as big a douchebag as this post may have you believe."

You really have no idea what you are talking about. Sweety, no one ever said Miss Jefferson DID NOT break it off days before. That ain't the story. The point is
that an athlete who has been rumored to be gay for many years...now goes on offensive and says he is not gay and being called gay is the "worse" insult.

As usual, it's always the closet queens who we never heard of before...who get everything twisted and will defend their heroes to the death.

Love to hear your comments on the teenager who got 180 days for killing a gay man!

[Faison]

No, the worst thing you can do to a person is kill or harm them, or, accuse them or killing or harming another.

And speaking of that, so many of our black gay men have such low self esteem and opinions of themselves. So naturally they have very little comment on these cases when people have been accused of harming or killing gays.

I am not sure why Richard Jefferso called off his wedding. But I also think there were skeletons in someone's closet, either hers or his. But it does seem like he wanted to marry her (=why pay for it otherwise?) so I tend to think there was some dirt in her slippers.

[ff]

maybe he isnt gay, maybe he's bisexual. :)

but HOORAY for him being "not gay". how awesome for him.

i'd rather have Dwight Howard, Vince Carter, Dahntay Jones, Ben Gordon...

[kayman]

It sounds like to me he is bisexual. He just wants to advertise to the world that he "isn't gay".

[Anthony in Nashville]

@ Seahawk:

You raise an interesting point. I think there's also a wide range of opinion on what constitutes "out of the closet."

I participated in a discussion group for black gay men the other day and of course Terrell Carter came up as a topic. I was surprised to hear people say that in their opinion, Carter was already out because he went to gay social functions. For them, closeted is staying in the house so nobody can see you.

Nevermind not telling family or friends about yourself, or lying if asked. If you socialize with gay people, you're out of the closet.

I had not thought of it that way.

As far as Jefferson is concerned, there have been rumors about him dating back to his Arizona days. But other than the alleged Tyson affair, nobody has offered strong "proof" that he's family.

I believe he was raised in a very religious household, so if he is gay, he may not know how to reconcile his sexuality, his religion, and his profession. The comment about that being the worst thing you can do to an athlete sound like false bravado and a weak attempt to keep whatever "street cred" he has.

[seahawk]

Is being accused of being gay the worst thing that can happen to a pro athlete?

The major leagues are littered with men who have been implicated in murders, rape, drug deals, steroids, adultery, DWI - men who have multiple children with multiple women.
Look at what Kobe, Mike Tyson, Ray Lewis, and others have been accused of, yet they continued to work. Even Mike Vick will be playing somewhere soon.
Not one major male athlete has come out.
By deduction, does that imply "gay" is the worst label a player can carry? Is what Jefferson is saying true, in its own way?

[mjolnir202]

Sadly, Seahawk, I agree with you. In America's hyper masculine sports culture, being called gay is the worst thing that can happen to an athlete. You can pretty much do anything else and can be expected to be forgiven by the fans, that's assuming they even cared in the first place. The first Out professional player in a major team sport is gonna face a wave of hatred not seen since Jackie Robinson.

[Chaz]

Jefferson's closet is not even worth probing. If he identifies as hetero, so be it. I would rather an intelligent sports player who is devoid of all that religious muck and drivel to be a representative of the Black gay community. The community is already overrun by a lot of DL, cowardly, idiotic, "see you on the front pew" queens, we don't need another. KI KI@ him using his Christian missionary parents to justify the impossibility of his being gay. Whatever.

Also, Mediatakeout acts as THE media bane of the Black gay movement. They LOVE to "paint" every athlete, celebrity, socialite, et cetera, with a "GAY brush," furthering the belief that gay is the WORST state anyone can be in. They know the majority of their readers are homophobic, and instead of trying to improve their readers' perception of our community, they play up all of our stereotypes. The irony behind Mediatakeout's role in all of this is Fred Mwangaguhunga (the owner of Mediatakeout) is a Black gay. I don't get it.

[Marcus]

One has to wonder how long he is willing to play this game. The NYC media have had it with him--or so it seems.

I feel bad for him in a way, but he lives in a hell of his own making.

I live in L.A. and even before this incident I heard murmors about him and Luke.

Oh well.

I'll get my popcorn.

[Jasmine]

That is a GAY ACT! I feel sorry for his ex-fiancée. I like RJ because he is so cute but because of what he did, all I can say is, he's a cute GAY!

Sincerely yours,
Jasmine of Buy Tramadol
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