NBA prospect Wayne Washington blasts ESPN’s Bill Simmons
By Bryan Rose
Wayne Washington isn’t a name you’re probably familiar with unless you’re a big NBDL fan. That said, Washington does have some game and he’s known to be one of the better ‘amateur’ dunkers in the roundball circuit.
No, he probably wont be making an NBA roster in the near future despite an impressive journey attempting to do so, but that doesn’t mean he wont be in the spotlight.
Washington took to his blog recently to blast ESPN host Bill Simmons, who in an attempt to be funny made a hair joke in poor taste, asking fellow ESPN host Jalen Rose if his ‘cornrows’ gave him an advantage because they get ‘stinky’.
That didn’t sit well with Washington, as you can see:
"Bill you seemed to be distracted by my “cornrows” which led to you to make several ill-informed comments. You should be thankful Jalen was there to correct to you time and time again. Not only did make me uncomfortable, you made other viewers uncomfortable, and I’m sure you made Jalen uncomfortable. You would never know because Jalen is a pro and did his best to refocus your attention back to the task at hand which was discussing dunks. “How do you feel about cornrows in 2013”. Bill you’ve covered the NBA for how long? You’re 43 years old. You don’t know the difference between Allen Iverson’s cornrows and Kenneth Faried’s dreads? To make matters worse, when corrected by Jalen you responded with “or whatever” in a laid back attitude almost to say “ta-may-toe, toe-mah-toe”. That’s something I would expect from Bill O’Reilly not you Bill Simmons. These elitist brush offs of black culture are far too familiar… Then you went on you say I would have a competitive advantage during a game because “they can get a little stinky”. Do I look like a dirty person Bill? Or maybe it wasn’t personal jab and you believe all dreads stink? Bill not only did you further perpetuate a myth/stereotype but you did this on one of the biggest platforms in sports/entertainment. Nike and Grantland collaborating on a project is kind of a big deal."
You can read Washington’s full piece by clicking here.