ESPN’s Jalen Rose Apologizes for Saying Kevin Love Made Olympics Because of ‘Tokenism’
Former NBA player and ESPN analyst Jalen Rose said Sunday he “disrespected the game” when he said Kevin Love didn’t deserve to make USA Basketball’s Olympic roster.
“If I feel like Kevin Love should make the team or not, I’m entitled to my opinion,” Rose said in a video posted on Instagram. “You don’t have to like my opinion, you don’t have to like me. There’s a lot of people trying to assassinate my character or whatever, but those people, some of them, have been … for like 30 years.
“But you know why I’m apologizing right now?” he added. “To the game. Because I’m what the game made me. I was raised by the all-time greats and you know what I would never want to do? Disappoint [Rose’s late mother] Jeanie Rose or disappoint the all-time greats that raised me.”
View this post on Instagram
The comments came after Rose said Love — who is White — made the Olympic team set to play in Tokyo this year because of “tokenism,” saying, “Don’t be scared to make an all-Black team representing the United States of America. I’m disappointed by that. Anybody that watched the league this year knows Kevin Love did not have a stellar season, was not the best player on his team and did not necessarily deserve to be on this squad.”
Nonetheless, he said in his latest comments that he stood by his claim that Love shouldn’t have qualified.
“Not that I believe that you [Love] deserve to make the team,” Rose said. “I’m pretty sure when you got the call too you were like ‘Word?! I’m on the squad.’ I know how this works y’all. He looked down at his phone and was like, ‘Yo, they want me? They’re gonna ignore these Cleveland Cav lost tape years?’”
