After being blasted on social media when the homophobic, misogynistic and vulgar messages he privately sent to actor Michael Rapaport became public, Kevin Durant felt the need to apologize.
But, based on what the 32-year-old had to say, he isn’t actually sorry.
In a statement that was basically the definition of a non-apology apology, Durant essentially said he was sorry that the profane messages he sent the 51-year-old became public, but stopped short of apologizing for the hateful content of the messages themselves.
“I’m sorry that people seen that language I used,” Durant said. “That’s not really what I want people to see and hear from me, but hopefully I can move past it and get back out there on the floor.”
Nets coach Steve Nash told reporters the organization has addressed the situation with Durant but said the team preferred to keep the specifics of what was discussed with the star player in-house.
Durant, who was speaking publicly for the first time since injuring his hamstring in February, could possibly be suspended or fined by the NBA for his comments as the league has disciplined players in the past for using anti-gay slurs on the court.
A possible punishment from the league seems like the only plausible reason Durant even bothered to address the situation, as it is fairly obvious he isn’t really remorseful for what he said and has no intention of personally apologizing to Rapaport — who is blatantly using the attention he is receiving to promote his podcast (as is his right).
In a way, it would have been better if Durant simply didn’t address the matter at all because his clear lack of regret just underscores how he doesn’t take spewing hate-speech online seriously.
Playing almost entirely without Durant, who has suited up for just 19 games since tearing his Achilles in the NBA Finals in June 2019 with the Warriors but has 27.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists on the season, the Nets (34-15) have gone 20-3 in their last 23 games and are in first place in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn has an excellent chance of making it to the NBA Finals and playing on the league’s biggest stage for a championship.
Should that happen, it would be important if Durant used the platform to publicly advocate against the sort of language and sentiment that he used in private towards Rapaport. But, as the former MVP’s remorseless non-apology apology makes very clear, he won’t.
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