Jalen Rose was chin-checked by his NBA employers during a commercial break, and his apology after was the proof. During ESPN’s halftime show, while discussing the Ime Udoka debacle in Boston, Rose wondered why the name of the woman who Udoka alleged had a consensual relationship with wasn’t released.
“We know his name, maybe I’m missing something as it relates to the law, but why don’t we know her name, it’s not like she’s a minor, we should know her name publicly as well,” Rose said.
When the show returned from a commercial break, Rose was in a solo camera shot apologizing with a scripted tone for his pre-break comment.
“I’m Jalen Rose and I would like to apologize for a comment I made earlier on NBA Countdown, I questioned why a woman’s name, who had an alleged affair with Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was not made public, after an internal investigation and it was discovered that she was a subordinate to the head coach,” said Rose. “I know understand fully why here name should not be fully released to the public.”
Stephen A. Smith, who was also on the show stayed relatively quiet when Rose gave his live take. The “First Take” host had his run-in asking for a reveal of Udoka’s subordinate when he and ESPN’s Malika Andrews got into it.
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“It said in the numerous news reports it was a consensual relationship that violated organizational policies, so only he is in violation of the company policy, the woman who consented to have a sexual relationship with him is not in violation, he gets to get mentioned and put on front street, we don’t know who she is,” Smith said.
The Brooklyn Nets are reportedly planning to hire the suspended Boston Celtics head coach as their new head coach after parting ways with Steve Nash on Tuesday. Udoka is still serving a season-long suspension for violations of Boston Celtics policies. However, he is still technically under contract with the Celtics. Now it’s still being determined whether Boston would get compensation from the Nets in return which could affect the finalizing of a deal.
The NBA has been very sensitive to not offending segments of its massive audience, and violators have been dealt with in various ways. Most recently, Kyrie Irving’s sharing of a link to a reported anti-Semitic documentary prompted the Brooklyn Nets to suspend him for five games after he didn’t offer a direct apology. The action forced Irving to post an unmistakable apology.
“To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize,” Irving wrote on his Instagram. “I initially reacted out of emotion to being unjustly labeled Anti-Semitic instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish Brothers and Sisters that were hurt from the hateful remarks made in the Documentary.
“I had no intentions to disrespect any Jewish cultural history regarding the Holocaust or perpetuate any hate. I am learning from this unfortunate event and hope we can find understanding between us all.”
However, Irving lost his lucrative Nike contract, and his career in Brooklyn and perception league-wide is on the rocks as yet another controversy is dogging him.
Rose immediately apologized after realizing or being told it was necessary for the NBA’s audience. How will others react to the exposure of their opinions live on air?
