More Sterling: Longer version released | Obama comments | MJ too | Clips warmups
In the controversy surrounding Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp has been dragged into the mess and he responded very well.
In the course of a conversation with his girlfriend, Sterling is alleged to have said (via recording) that she needs to remove all pictures from her Instagram account with African-Americans. She specifically replied that she thought Kemp was "mixed" and therefore she thought it was OK to not delete it.
So, obviously, Kemp was asked about the situation Sunday by reporters. Not surprisingly, Kemp responded calmly and respectfully, via latimes.com:
“Racism is kind of old, for real,” Kemp said. “Honestly, I just feel sorry for him, that he feels that way about African American people.”
--snip--
“This is bigger than the game. I’m shocked people still feel that way towards Latins, blacks, white people. We’re all the same. We all bleed the same. We’re all the same people. It really doesn’t make any sense.”
Pretty well said. It doesn't make any sense at all to any rational person.
Kemp also changed his walk-up, at-bat music to Michael Jackson's "Black or White," of which the tagline is "it doesn't matter if you're black or white."
Finally, Kemp understandably and unfortunately said he's going to have to stop taking pictures with people, just to avoid any issues/unintended controversy moving forward. One might recall that Kemp is extremely fan-friendly, too. Remember this? Or this? He did specifically say he would still sign autographs for anyone, though.
