Conservatives erupted online in support of NBA star Jaden Ivey after the Chicago Bulls waived the shooting guard Monday following his public anti-LGBTQ outrage and comments about religion.
“They’re declaring Pride Month in the NBA,” Ivey continued Instagram. “They’re proclaiming it. They’re showing it to the world. They’re saying, come, come, come with us to Pride, to Pride Month, to celebrate injustice.”
“They’re proclaiming it. They’re proclaiming it on the billboards. They’re proclaiming it in the streets. Injustice. How come someone can’t speak justice?” he said.
The NBA player further claimed that Satan wants to “keep people in sin” and for people to “stay gay” or “stay lesbian.”
“God didn’t make a man to be with a man. God didn’t make a girl to be with a girl,” Ivey said. “God created a man for the purpose of procreation, to have another child. How else? How can a woman? How can a woman bear a child with a woman?”
When the Chicago Bulls announced they were parting ways with Ivey, some conservative personalities claimed the basketball player was being punished because of his Christian faith.
OutKicks Riley Gaineswho then switched to right-wing activism tie for fifth place at the NCAA Women’s Championships with a trans swimmer, defended him online.
“We live in a world that hates Christ and those who believe in Him, but that is to be expected. Just as He was persecuted, so will we,” says Gaines said on X. “Consider me a Jaden Ivey fan.”
“I hope Jaden Ivey sues the Bulls. He’s being waived because he’s a Christian,” Alex Bruesewitz‘, says an adviser to President Donald Trump. “This is ridiculous.”
MAGA-focused UFC fighter Colby Covington appeared on the right-wing podcaster Tomi Lahren’s show to give the Chicago Bulls a “disgusting organization.”
“This is his God-given right, his First Amendment right, to express his opinion. I appreciate him standing up to the woke mob,” the fighter said. “I can’t believe the Chicago Bulls stooped to this low level.”
According to to The New York TimesIVey will still receive his full $10.1 million salary this season.
A source within Ivey’s former team told The Chicago Sun-Times, it wasn’t just the player’s opinions on the LGBTQ issue that got him banned, but rather a build-up of posts and comments that started last month.
Following the controversy, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, who occasionally provides political insight, says the Bulls are “perfectly within their rights” to part with the player.
“They have the right to be picky about who they want to represent their brand and product,” says Smith said Tuesday.
