Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul Reed became the first NBA player to publicly apologize for anti-gay tweets featured in an Outsports expose about homophobic tweets made by more than three dozen players.
According to Outsports, a young gay NBA fan forwarded 78 anti-gay tweets made by 40 players on 23 teams to the LGBTQ media outlet. Two of the tweets belonged to Reed, whom the 76ers selected in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft.
The 76ers forwarded Reed's apology to Outsports. "Last week, two insensitive statements that I made on social media as a teenager were published in an article. The statements do not reflect the man I am today, and I've deleted them from my account. I sincerely apologize for any hurt that these posts caused both then and now," he said in a statement.
However, in a separate article, Outsports reported that the Phoenix Suns' Torrey Craig has been publicly silent about his tweets from a decade ago saying "I hate gay dudes" and retweeting a post about gay men needing "a bullet" in their head.
In a response Outsports called "tepid," Suns spokesperson Dean Stoyer said, "Suns Legacy Partners, LLC, which includes the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, stands with the LGBTQIA community to celebrate equality and denounce discrimination of any kind."