Though he’s overshadowed by the better known social justice warriors of the NBA and NFL, New Orleans Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy is way out there on the far Left fringe. In an interview with ESPN’s black-themed blog, The Undefeated, the veteran NBA coach proudly claimed the mantle of poster boy for white privilege.
As the new NBA season begins with declining fan interest, The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears interviewed Van Gundy, who did not disappoint followers of the SJW, race-baiting ESPN blog.
“I’m a poster boy for white privilege,” Van Gundy (in photo above) boasted. “I’ve led a privileged life, so I only know about these issues, and these problems, and these inequities from people I’ve been associated with, work with, know, care about. I don’t carry the issue. But just because something doesn’t happen to you, if it’s happening to people you know, if it’s happening to people you care about, you care about the issue.”
Van Gundy told Spears he started a Twitter account last summer and wasted no time ingratiating himself with those who swear African Americans don’t experience equality. He is a vocal supporter for the LGBTQ movement and expresses “disdain for the actions of outgoing President Donald Trump,” Spears writes.
Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin says Van Gundy is a good fit for his players because he is so woke.
Supporting Colin Kaepernick was also a big step for the woke Van Gundy: “When he took a knee, and racial justice became forefront, and you’re in a business where 75, 80% of the people that you’re working with, players, staff, everybody is Black, and you’re hearing their stories, and the pain and things like that.”
Van Gundy says in the interview that white people talking up white privilege alienates a lot of white folks who don’t personally feel they are privileged:
“ … They don’t have money. They’re working their a– off just to get by, and they’re like, ‘What the hell are you talking about? There’s no such thing as white … I’m not privileged.’ You may not have an easy life, but you’re not oppressed simply because of the color of your skin. That’s the difference. I’m not going to get pulled over driving around at night, I’m not, just because of the color of my skin. I’m not going to get a DWB [Driving While Black], I’m not. That’s white privilege.”
Van Gundy tries to shut down white people who claim they or a family member built a business from nothing. He doesn’t get this, but he reinforces stereotypes by telling them things like, ‘‘Yeah, but there were no laws, or societal norms working against him. He got a chance to pull himself up by the bootstrap, so to speak. Other people didn’t. They’re going to segregated schools.’ That’s the part that people miss.”
“Some people aren’t even allowed that opportunity to work their a– off to get to where they are, and if they are, it’s only come about really recently,” says the coach of an NBA team with 11 jet-setting, millionaire African Americans.
The 2016 election haunts Van Gundy, who says …
“The one thing probably of all the political stuff I’ve done that I regret was the day after the 2016 election. I went off on a rant. We were in Phoenix, and after a walk-through, I went on a rant about the election in 2016, and I disparaged voters for their vote, and assuming that I knew their motivations, and everything else. That part I regretted. That’s the only part I regret. I didn’t regret 90% of what I said."
The coaches of San Antonio (Greg Popovich) and Golden State (Steve Kerr) are much better known than Van Gundy, but he is impressed with how those two allegedly don’t alienate people turned off by their left-wing politics and hatred of President Trump.
“Both of them had been a lot better in that space at that than I have, so I’m trying to learn from them, and find my way there because … at the end of the day, I think we’re all trying to make a difference for people,” Van Gundy says.
Near the end of the interview, Van Gundy says he enjoys living in New Orleans more than the conservative area of Florida where he previously resided. “And just the diversity of the entire city. Political diversity, racial diversity, LGBTQ diversity. It’s different than anywhere we’ve ever lived, quite honestly,” he told Spears.
Van Gundy’s and the NBA’s prattling for social justice is just not resonating with television viewers. The 2020 season’s NBA Finals hit embarrassing lows, and Friday’s Christmas Day game ratings spiraled downward, too. The abysmal ratings for Friday’s Lakers-Mavericks game were down 21 percent compared to last year’s game between the Clippers and Lakers.
