Rajon Rondo's Statement Looks A Lot Like Kobe Bryant's Statement

The NBA suspended Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo for one game without pay after he called referee Bill Kennedy a “faggot” in a Dec. 3 game. (Kennedy publicly came out after the incident.) Rondo tweeted a statement, which wasn’t actually an apology, but the weirdest part is that his statement reads like a condensed version of Kobe Bryant’s under similar circumstances in 2011.

When Bryant was fined for calling NBA official Bennie Adams a “fucking faggot,” this was his statement through the Lakers:

What I said last night should not be taken literally. My actions were out of frustration during the heat of the game, period. The words expressed do NOT reflect my feelings towards the gay and lesbian communities and were NOT meant to offend anyone.

What Rondo said yesterday:

The NBA players don’t share an agent, so it’s not clear how this happened.

Update (4:54 p.m.): Rondo released a new statement that actually apologizes to Kennedy.

Photo: AP

H/t to Aron

Contact the author at [email protected].