Dallas Mavericks' Drew Gooden Accused of Calling Fans "Faggots"

Only days after Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was suspended for using anti-gay slurs, another professional athlete has been accused of doing the same thing. Dallas Mavericks player Drew Gooden is accused by a Los Angeles Clippers fan of calling him and his friend "faggots" at Staples Center after Saturday night's game, Outsports reports.

The fan, actor Chris Wylde, who is married and not gay, is a Clippers season ticket holder and was sitting with his friend close to the Mavericks' bench during Dallas' 93-84 NBA win. The 28-year-old Gooden, a seventh-year player signed by Dallas this season, was in street clothes after an injury. Wylde said that Gooden made eye contact with them during the game, but no words were exchanged. He also says that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban "winked at us and pointed" during the game because both men were in Halloween costumes.

Wylde elaborated on Gooden's outburst in an email to Outsports:

"My friend and I have been season ticket holders for the Clippers for eight seasons. Last night was Halloween, and he dressed up as longtime Clippers announcer Ralph Lawler and I dressed up as an airline pilot. We were upgraded to courtside Row 2, adjacent to the Mavs bench. We were maybe 10 feet away. All game, we loudly proudly rooted for our Clippers. We threw in some silly good-natured jibes against the Mavs (nothing against Gooden specifically) like how they have a short backup point guard, and that Dirk Nowitzki clearly had a fake tan. Is it a spray? Is it a cream? That sort of stuff. Very silly. Very innocent. But 95% pro-Clippers loudness.

"After the game we went to the souvenir shop and my friend said he wanted to check if one of the kiosks had a particular jersey he was looking for, so he headed back through the stadium and I followed a few feet behind. I saw him look shocked and turn to me, then I heard from Drew Gooden who was surrounded by three or four guys walking past me and pointing to me, 'there's that other faggot.' He had said 'there's that faggot' about my friend and that's why he turned to me shocked. It was completely unsolicited. We said nothing to him during the game, or in the hallway. He just called us both 'faggots' because he's a bigoted spoiled bully."

Wylde emailed Mark Cuban and the Mavericks' owner replied he would "deal w Drew." Cuban told Outsports he is seeking confirmation of what Gooden said "and that if he took any action, it would stay private."

Wylde tells Outsports he has known many gay people and has heard homophobic slurs hurled their way. "I do strongly feel that Drew Gooden and other professional athletes should not be walking around after games loudly referring to anyone, gay or straight, as a faggot," Wylde said. "I've been out with gay friends and been verbally assaulted with them. I've heard their stories before and it sickens me."

Maybe Drew Gooden will say he didn't know "faggot" was an offensive word?

Comments

[Whatuthink]

Well, if u tease someone don't be surprised if you hear something u don't like in return.

[TheRevKev]

OKAY, so it's time to have this conversation out loud:

ITS ABOUT TIME THAT STUPIDITY STARTED COSTING PEOPLE SOMETHING!

Enough of athletes playing dumb and saying what they meant or intended or half-pologizing for words that they KNOW that meant to utter. It's time that arrogance and ignorance start to cost these brothers something. I'm tired of the rhetoric of black folks that the N word or the F word doesn't mean anything. THOSE WORDS ARE POISONOUS!

How many times have we taken "faggot" from dudes in the hood because its just a word. How many times have we fought about "nigga/nucca/nikka/nigger" being about disembowelling the word, only to get mad at each other and have the word hurled like rocks.

Use whatever words you want. That's what freedom of speech means. Sure, you get to say it. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't cost you something for offending those of us who have found 100,000 other words to vent our own vices.

The brother needs to be penalized and the fact that the guys were straight only shows how ridiculous the "perception" thing is with gays. It's the same, for me, as when black people get angry about being affronted in a store. We say THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I HAVE OR WHO I AM. THEY JUST CAME AT ME BECAUSE I WAS BLACK. Well, that same thing happens a lot with people and what they PERCEIVE to be gay among straight men.

ENOUGH ALREADY! Gooden is 28 years old and been at it for 7 years, so he was 21! IF you are going to take these untraveled, under-educated dudes and make them millionaires and role models, it would be smart to start making them take classes about A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT LIFE (women, different orientations and ethnticies) so that they can be better representatives of their sport to and in the world.

[mjolnir202]

"Well, if u tease someone don't be surprised if you hear something u don't like in return."

@ Whatuthin: Are just trying to be provocative?

I suppose, if Steve Nash had called two black guys "Nigger" it would be okay if they were heckling him. Please!! These athletes need to grow up. Most of them are semi-illiterates playing a child's game for millions of dollars. Ignoring raucous fans is part of their job. Drew Gooden is not curing AIDS, vacinating orphans or even fixing a pothole on a busy street, he needs get over himself. Though, with the way some of these guys manage their money, he may be fixing that pothole in a couple of years.

[The Truth]

I'm having trouble believing this story completely. It may be rue...It just seems like something is mising. Hmm...

[Whatuthink]

Don't dish it out, if you can't take it.

Don't go crying foul to his boss, 'cause you're unhappy about what he said in return. Freedom of speech.

I bet you next time he won't saying anything to Gooden.

If Nash call someone out nigger, at least you know what you're dealing with. Take you're own advice an ignore it mjonir202.

[Jacob Williams]

But he never said anything to him and yet he was called a faggot. Why would you call a man a faggot that hasn't said 1 word to you?

he was critizing the team not the basketball player personally and the basketball player got so angry about his team players getting dissed that he called dude a faggot. Its not right. Unless a man attacks you personally than you don't have the right to attack him. bottom line.

[Quest]

Yea this story really seems one sided and a whole another point of view is missing. And by the way that the seaon pass ticket holder who gets to the grace of great floor seats being stressed throughout the entire story doesn't sit very well with me...as if that makes them more special than the next person sitting up higher in the stadium. I don't doubt there side of them being called fags by Drew, but i been to enough NBA games and hearing crazed fans talk all kinda crazy to players & everyone in between and not expecting to receive what there giving out.

[Ravenback]

@ Whatuthink

And if you have the privilege of making millions of dollars a year representing a sports franchise which also represents a city, then you should be careful of what language you use. Don't complain about free speech when you sign your name on a dotted line which makes you susceptible to certain moral guidelines and conduct detrimental to the team.

I don't know whether this is true or not, but Gooden doesn't have the right to use those words especially if directed towards a paying fan of the sport. Whenever bad behavior has been directed towards fans, the league has come down on the side of the fan. Drew Gooden has been an NBA player since 2002 so he is quite accustomed to heckling from fans. It goes with the territory. He has no right to call someone a "faggot" -- plain and simple. The days of ignoring ignorance and going with the flow are over with. No one has to put up with it any longer.

[Dalton]

"Yea this story really seems one sided and a whole another point of view is missing."

"Don't go crying foul to his boss, 'cause you're unhappy about what he said in return. Freedom of speech."

LOLz. 'Cuz straight men and athletes never say "faggot" to demean someone. Wait ... happened just last week. Twice.

So if sports fan should expect to be called "faggot", what about "nigger"? When is it acceptable to call someone that?

SMH

[Chris Cruz]

@WhatUThink, Truth and Quest

Really? You really think pro athletes should be able to drop f-bombs because they were teased? Can they drop the n-bomb too? What about non millionaire athletes ... can we just call people whatever derogatory name comes to mind?

I'm ashamed a gay person, especially a black one, would justify a STRAIGHT man using a gay slur by freedom of speech. I bet you think gays who are gay-bashed were probably "flaunting" their sexuality or dressing too "provocative"?

[Byron]

RevKev said:
"IF you are going to take these untraveled, under-educated dudes and make them millionaires and role models, it would be smart to start making them take classes about A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT LIFE (women, different orientations and ethnticies) so that they can be better representatives of their sport to and in the world."

This reasonable and reasoned response to this and other affronts is what really needs to happen. Unfortunately, it will just get lost in the hysteria and screaming for an apology and/or punishment (even RevKev didn't come to it until the end of his statement). This is too bad.

Every athlete who does this has ultimately either apologized or been reprimanded or both. And it continues to happen. Obviously the "shame" of having to apologize or the potential financial loss of a fine/suspension do not serve as deterrents or lessons to other. Doing either is closing the proverbial barn door after the horse has left.

Education before something like this happens is what is needed. If we're not willing to demand and participate in in that education instead of wringing our hands and whining, "Why, oh why?" then we must not care that much about ourselves or young Black men in general.*

Crying after the fact does nothing to actually affect change. It just perpetuates victimhood

Byron

**And I know some here genuinely don't care much for young Black men in general (beyond sexual objects). Y'all can do what you want.

[Ravenback]

And to those who frame this issue in terms of freedom of speech, it isn't. Freedom of speech only applies to the power of government to abridge or curtail your right to free speech. Businesses place restrictions on what employees can say or wear all the time. And the courts have ruled in their favor on many occasions. Sports franchises don't look to kindly upon players who insult their fans. It creates a bad impression, and the sports leagues don't like controversy.

[Lang B]

AMEN REV KEV!
God Points Byron.
I am actually tired of this thugdom- posturing and foul mouthed, ready to rumble mentality that these athletes have. Sick of this whole you gotta be hard and vile to be a "black man."
CLEAN IT UP!

[TheRevKev]

Byron,

Bless you brother but I ended with the statement because that's where I wanted to end. If I had started there, it would have gotten lost in rhetoric.

I am about ANALYSIS and then RESOLUTION.

I am absolutely a sensitive and spiritual being, but trust and believe, I am but a human being and the hurling of words like this always makes me HOT. I had a moment or two at BET, even when in ministry, when a brother or two got taken to the streets (MAN TO MAN). I appreciate the need for education and would love to see this progressive level of thinking in professional sports. BUT FROM THE GATE, THE ATHLETES NEED TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT GOING TO SIMPLY TAKE THIS.

I am very proudly a gay man, but I AM NOT A PUNK!

So it's definitely about resolution but at some point, enough is simply enough. The example about Steve Nash saying the N word was very quick and to the point. WHATUTHINK says "at least we would know who we are dealing with." WELL, that is EXACTLY the truth with GOODEN! We know exactly with whom we are dealing and we have to stop cow-towing to the idea that something happened to provoke this kind of behavior.

Nothing happened here or with Tim Hardaway or most of the other athletes that "go there." It's the bomb that is supposed to emasculate any man just like the B word is supposed to do it to women.

Enough of this. Two athletes in a week show that being gay is LITERALLY the new black. It's the slur that gets dropped and stinks up the air and the person at whom it is dropped is questioned (as has happened here).

ENOUGH!

[Isis]

Yes, We do have Freedom of Speech! However, there are consequences to Freedon of Speech. If you are a CONTRACTED member of an organization, like.... perhaps.... an NBA Basketball team, you have certain responsibilities to that organization. You must NOT tarnish the brand and cause controversy. So Gooden will need to edit his comments (if proven true) in the future.

[Quest]

Lord forbid anyone to have there own opinion of a situation... since when did all of us proudly representing the Gay Black Community has to think in some sort of uniform fashion? Maybe I missed that memo, but again I am also from the new school. The same group who when refers to someone as being a "bitch" used in the derogatory manor doesn't automatically attach that title to a gender set but more of an action based attribute.

So by assuming Gooden has some sort of malice in his heart towards gay people its totally a stretch. And I do agree that conversations like these are healthy and can be more of a teaching lesson vs everyone taking there assumed roles & scripts with "us" always playing victim in a situation reportedly involving three straight men. And by the way by us holding such high regards to titles that was created to hurt us doesn't help us.

[DhaniDarko]

I think all of you faggots should shut the hell up and get a life.

Now, did that make anyone feel good? Hate speech is not free speech. I don't know what's worse, the people that say this crap or the apologist queens who defend them. Is it because he's a black man and we are "endangered"? WelI we're MORE endangered than Drew because we are black AND gay. It's like everyday in the news you see this shit and I'm sick of it.

[CC]

am i the only one seeing a trend here?

[JG, III]

Rev Kev:

I take another approach. Once those guys are making millions starts a whole other lifestyle that we can only comprehend. They surely know what respect is or else they wouldn’t be professionals, as there is a certain decorum that they’ve had to learn to even get to the place where they’re superstars. So, I have a problem with making excuses for them anymore. They know how to go to high class restaurant and act like they got some sense and they also live in neighborhoods where they don’t act like a fool and I’m sure they’re white gays and lesbians who live in their neighborhoods. I’m sure gays are decorating their houses and doing their wives’ or girlfriends’ hair. You can’t reach certain echelons of society and not find gays and lesbians there, including some of their accountants and attorneys who are making them rich. Don’t give me this!

If wealth doesn't do one thing for those guys is help them to come to a real clear reality that we’re everywhere and if they want to have some of the best agents in the industry, they’ll get over their homophobia in a minute. I’m talking ads, artistic productions, gays are running the show honey.

[TheRevKev]

JG, I agree 100%!

[Ravenback]

I was just reading about the alleged incident on ESPN.com. A Dallas Maverick source said that a man walking out of the Staples Center with Drew Gooden was the one who made the offensive comments. Chris Wylde, the actor who made the allegations, said he is sure it was Drew Gooden who made the comments. So this is where things are headed. He said versus he said. Unless there's a smoking gun somewhere, this issue is most likely dead. But it is interesting that the source essentially confirms that the comments were made.

[Ron]

Freedom is speech aside...Drew Gooden is someone who was representing his job at the time. If you are working at McDonalds or as a customer service rep and someone is heckling you, and you respond by calling them a faggot...do you think you'll still have a job?

[DJ]

First Larry and now this one... I tell you, these jock "girls" are clutching to that word for dear LIFEDJ!

[Term papers]

I gotta hand it to whoever wrote this, you've really kept me updated! Now, let's just hope that I can come across another blog just as interesting :)