As the NBA announces its plans to investigate allegations made Thursday by G-league player and NBA veteran Jeremy Lin that he was called an anti-Asian slur “on the court,” Lin has not publicly named the player or the game where the alleged incident happened.
Lin used his Facebook page, which has 3.5 million followers, to post a long statement on anti-Asian racism in America. In his post, Lin spoke for all Asian-Americans, saying, “We are tired of Asian American kids growing up and being asked where they’re REALLY from, of having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we’re inherently unattractive.”
Taiwanese-American Lin, who is a forward for the Santa Cruz Warriors, also referred to alleged Asian bias in sports in his post, saying, “I want better for the next generation of Asian American athletes than to have to work so hard to just be ‘deceptively athletic,'” and added, “Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn’t protect me from being called ‘coronavirus’ on the court.”
Lin has a history of speaking on Asian-American bias. He was featured on NBC Sports’ “Race in America: A Candid Conversation” last week to speak on Asian bias in the U.S., and considers himself a role model for the Asian-American community.
NBA sources told the Athletic on Friday the “G League is opening an investigation into guard Jeremy Lin’s statements that he has been called, ‘Coronavirus,’ on the G League court”:
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr supported Lin’s statement, saying, “I applaud Jeremy for his words and echo his sentiments regarding racism against the Asian American community.”
Kerr has echoed sentiments from left-leaning agendas before and has repeatedly labeled Republicans “white supremacists” in his comments on social media. He responded to a tweet from Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz saying “we have a white supremacist problem” with the comment, “This pretty much sums it up.”
The New York Times reported, “The number of hate crimes with Asian-American victims reported to the New York Police Department surged to 28 in 2020, from just three in 2019.” The Times also quoted a United Nations report that said, “More than 1,800 racist incidents against Asian-Americans in the United States had been reported over an eight-week period from March 2020 to May 2020.”
Along with the Golden State Warriors’ organization, Lin has played for the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Toronto Raptors, and in 2019 became the first Asian American to win an NBA Championship.
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