Folks got pretty upset with Gilbert Arenas when he posted a fairly sexist post on Instagram about the WNBA. Several members of the WNBA responded to the comments and many were wondering if Arenas would apologize. Those people will be disappointed after seeing his appearance on TMZ Sports where he asks who needs to apologize to, noting that only the “ugly” players are upset. The highlight was likely when the hosts brought up his daughter possibly playing in the WNBA and Gilbert responded like this:
“See, I’m petty so, as a father I’m going to let her dress the way she dresses. As a petty person, I’m gonna laugh at the way she dresses. Period.”
If that wasn’t enough, Arenas tripled or possibly quadrupled down on Instagram, playing up his moniker of being “petty” for the New Year. First he addresses the headline that Nate Robinson shared claiming he called WNBA players lesbians:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_Xjh_HPP1v/
Then he took the path where he’s shrugging off the haters with some choice words, saying he was only trying to help:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_X13bnvP1B/
Then he shows off his “petty” custom plates and talks a bit about all the brush back he’s gotten saying, “I have so much hate mail in my dm’s from #WNBA players”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_Z058LPP-v/
Neil deGrasse Tyson comes into play next, with Gil saying we should be happy and petty in the New Year while laughing at his initial post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_Z7MAtPP83/
And finally he takes a moment to say that Dec. 17 is now Hibachi Day in remembrance of his 60-point game against the Lakers, calling his WNBA comments all a scheme to get some media attention.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_abUkBvP4v/
I’m not entirely sure what to make of all of this. It isn’t the way I want to remember Gilbert Arenas, a guy who was a lot of fun to watch when he played for the Wizards (before all that gun stuff). At the same time, it all comes off a lot like trolling at this point, especially since people are completely upset. People can think what they want to think, that’s the beauty of the whole free-speech thing. But there’s also that bite back. Saying it’s all a joke is a nice way to defend yourself, but it’s also a way to make things even more awkward than they already are. Check out the TMZ interview below:
[protected-iframe id=”129dca933466ea79eabb431d9dc6a9de-60970621-60064866″ info=”//cdnapisec.kaltura.com/p/591531/sp/59153100/embedIframeJs/uiconf_id/6740162/partner_id/591531?iframeembed=true&playerId=kaltura_player_1413478522&entry_id=0_ad5tq5po” width=”650″ height=”400″ frameborder=”0″ style=”width: 650; height: 400px;” webkitallowfullscreen=”” mozallowfullscreen=”” allowfullscreen=””]
(Via TMZ / Gilbert Arenas)
