Lakers’ Jordan Clarkson, Nick Young are being accused of sexual harassment
Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Nick Young are being accused of sexually harassing two women in Hollywood.
Every major professional sports league has been stepping forward and making leaps and bounds toward educating their players and the fans on the rights of women and campaigning for ends to violence and harassment through ads and players coming forward to make a resolution to put an end to it. The NBA has always been a league that has been at the forefront of rights for everyone and aiming to achieve equality at the highest standards.
However, two of the players in the league are being accused of sexual harassment. According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers are investigating accusations that guard Jordan Clarkson and forward Nick Young sexually harassed two women in Hollywood on Sunday night.
One of the women that is alleging the sexual harassment against Clarkson and Young is female activist Alexis Jones. Jones is a noted author and is also the co-founder of the non-profit organization I AM THAT GIRL, which works toward expanding the rights of women and empowering them as well. She also received an offer from the Lakers to come speak to Jones and Clarkson, but she could not at the time. She also mentioned her request to speak to them on the phone was denied.
According to Jones, she was out with her 68-year-old mother when a jeep pulled up with a group of men and they began making physical gestures and spewing vulgarities at them. In the article by Baxter Holmes, Jones mentions that her mother was scared during the situation.
"“She was super rattled. That’s the truth. It scared her,” Jones said. “We were in a small car, and they were in a big Jeep, and it was a bunch of big dudes. They’re leaning out of the car and making vulgar, sexual gestures. My mom was really shocked. That immediately turned into sobbing.”"
Jones would take a photo of the men and post it to Instagram, where Instagram users immediately began identifying two of the individuals as Clarkson and Young. That has led to the Lakers immediately investigating the situation and if it does turn out to be them, there could and should be major consequences heading toward both of their ways that could go beyond just the Lakers and the NBA.
The NBA and other professional sports leagues have been working hard to work past incidents like this and if it was indeed Clarkson and Young that were involved in the harassment, then this is yet another disappointing case of two professional athletes acting disgusting and giving the league a bad look.