A US basketball commentator has found himself on the sidelines for comments he made about the city of Toronto and its relationship with black athletes amid rumors that he is one of the best in the game. could head north of the border.
“I don’t think K.D. [Kevin Durant] I would like to get to Toronto. Big city. It’s not America,” Chris Broussard said in Fox Sports’ First Things First panel interview on Monday.
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“You feel it when you’re there, I’m telling you, especially as an African-American. It’s a different situation than what African-Americans are used to.”
“Tracy McGrady is gone, vince carter left, Chris Bosch left, you mentioned Kahwi [Leonard]Broussard added.
Not a few people on Twitter disagreed with the comments and Broussard’s name was, and still is, a trend on the platform in the hours after the segment.
Most notable among them is Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who played for the Raptors the year after won his first championship.
“This is over the top… Canadians love you like you grew up there… crazy,” Hollis-Jefferson wrote in a tweet.
And former Raptors, including Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, have been known to talk about their experience in the city and, more often than not, receive a hero’s welcome when they return to town.
Despite the backlash, Broussard took to Twitter Monday night in an attempt to set the record straight, saying he “never said Black people are ‘treated worse in Toronto’ than they are in America.”
“That’s ridiculous. I said living there is different and ‘not the same as living in America for black people.’ Very diverse city. But only 8% black. I love visiting Toronto. Visiting,” Broussard added.
Broussard’s white-hot version of the city, which has long been considered one of the most multicultural in the world, comes days after news broke that 12-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant was looking for a trade with the Brooklyn Nets.
While it’s not yet clear where Durant will land after the contracts are signed, there is speculation that he could end up in Toronto.
And that’s not totally out of the realm of possibility.
Durant has even gone on record that Toronto was his favorite basketball team growing up and that he was a fan of one of the greatest raptors of all time: Vince Carter.
“I was a huge Vince Carter fan and to be honest I liked his shirts. They were a new team when I was a kid, so I wanted to be a part of that,” Durant said during the Dan Patrick Show in 2013.
Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers at Barclays Center on Sunday, April 10, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
“The [Carter] it took Toronto from being one of the newest teams in the league to nearly reaching the finals. He changed the culture there in Toronto.”
Like many other former Raptors greats, Carter has praised the city he once called home, despite a once-cold relationship with fans following a 2004 trade.
And while Durant himself hasn’t hinted at what jersey he’ll wear in October, that doesn’t stop Toronto fans from dreaming of the possibility of him landing here.