Dec 23, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker (9) talks with head coach Gregg Popovich during the second half against the Toronto Raptors at AT
Tony Parker was in some hot water last week, as a photo surfaced that showed him making an anti-Semitic gesture. He has sinced apologized, and is ready to move on.
This hasn’t erupted into a full force scandal, and it seems as if the whole thing is behind him. Parker’s coach, Greg Poppovich, seems to be behind his star point guard:
“I talked with Tony,” Popovich said about 90 minutes before Tuesday’s game with Brooklyn. “I felt bad for him. Tony doesn’t have an anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim or anti-Christian bone in his body. That gesture was made three years ago and at that time he thought it meant something totally different.
“Which it did, to him. It’s morphed into something else over time. But it’s a tribute to his maturity and his leadership to understand it has morphed, as he found out, into something pretty hateful. He realized he needed to say something, that’s it not appropriate.
“There’s enough bigotry and racism and hatred in the world already. That thing has been taken too far. When he was informed of that and understood it, he was very quick to denounce it and understand what he had to do. So I was proud of him.”
There are guys who will apologize for things and not really mean it, but I think Parker is being genuine. I’m sure the Spurs and Parker will be glad when this whole thing is over with.
