OT: Amare fined 50K

[jbeecham]

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/sto...york-knicks-amare-stoudemire-50k-slur-twitter

The NBA fined Amare Stoudemire $50,000 for his use of a gay slur in a Twitter message. The fan tweeted his comment on Saturday and received a direct message containing an expletive and the slur from the account Twitter verifies as Stoudemire's. The fan posted a screen shot of the direct message. Direct messages can be seen by only the sender and the recipient.

Obviously what Amare said was wrong and stupid, but the NBA is ridiculous.

 

[sunsfan88]

What happened to freedom of speech?

 

[jbeecham]

Well as we've all found out, the NBA isn't a democracy... it's a dictatorship. US Civil Rights don't apply to NBA players, but that's also why they make millions of dollars.

 

[Chaplin]

Amare, and any NBA player, has a responsibility to his employers. Perhaps a case can be made for free speech, but if any of you were at work and said something racist or hateful, there may be consequences.

 

[jbeecham]

That's true Chap, but Amare's not at work... he's on vacation & on his own time. I realize he's an NBA player so he's always representing the NBA brand, but the level of scrutiny all NBA players fall under is a little extreme. Big Brother is always watching & anything recorded on video or written in email is worthy of fines. But like I said... that's one of the disadvantages of making millions of dollars.

These players are almost required by the NBA to have twitter accounts, websites, fan pages on facebook, make appearances, sign autographs, give interviews, etc etc to be as accessible as possible to the media and fans. The take constant abuse from annoying fans that don't get any punishment for their provocation (maybe a website ban... big deal) and if they slip up at all then they pay out more money in fines than most people make in a year.

I'm not defending what Amare said by any means... I just think the NBA system is set up to get the players to make mistakes & pay fines. Gotta pay David Sterns $20+ million annual salary somehow.

 

[BC867]

(1) Are celebrities role models for the public, especially young people?

(2) Are celebrities paid MILLIONS of dollars PER YEAR?

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If the answer to (2) is yes, then so should be the answer to (1).

If the answer to (1) is no, then neither should be the answer to (2).

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You shouldn't be able to have your cake and eat it too, Amar'e.

 

[elindholm]

It's not a free speech issue at all. He's governed by the CBA, and if he doesn't like it, he can find a different job.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It's not a free speech issue at all. He's governed by the CBA, and if he doesn't like it, he can find a different job.

agreed. It always amazes how many people don't really understand the basic concept that the government may not limit freedom of speech (except in certain situations), but that doesn't mean employers can't punish someone for being an idiot.

 

[Gaddabout]

All of you can be punished/fired by your employer for the same reason.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Private message with an individual. Yes, he could be fined, but its really stupid to do so. They can call each other much worse than that on the court, on a recording and call it art, with no consequences whatsoever.

 

[SunsTzu]

They can call each other much worse than that on the court, on a recording and call it art, with no consequences whatsoever.

Tell that to Kobe.

 

[jbeecham]

All of you can be punished/fired by your employer for the same reason.

Actually I own my own business so i wouldn't be punished or fired.

More to the point, in a normal job, when you are not at work and you are using your own personal email address, you would not get punished or fired by your boss for making remarks like this in a private email to another person or on a message board. Unless of course you were making them to another employee in the same company & he told your boss or if you somehow implicated your company in the remarks & it got back to your boss somehow.

If some annoying fan harassing Amare didn't make that private message go public so he could get his 15 minutes of fame then we would never be talking about this and Amare would have his 50K still... not like I care that he lost his money, but the whole thing is ridiculous.

And again, I'm not condoning what he said at all... I just think the ability that Stern & his cronies have to fine players for comments made in a private email is stupid & an abuse of power.

 

[sunsfan88]

^^I agree. It's one thing to say something out in public and another do it in privately or behind the curtains.

 

[SweetD]

The NBA is a brand and Amare and the players union are a part of that Brand year round. That is why in their contracts that they signed is states the thier actions and conduct is governed by the NBA and the players union.

Amare has the "right" to say what ever he wants, but some conduct will be deamed harmful to the "Brand" and fines maybe given.

 

[95pro]

how are fines handled? is still still considered the players money which is taxable?

or is it a pre-tax fine? just wonderin...

 

[Mainstreet]

If Amare were to appeal the fine I think he has a good chance of getting the fine reduced or even winning.

 

[SweetD]

how are fines handled? is still still considered the players money which is taxable?

or is it a pre-tax fine? just wonderin...

I am thinking it is a pre-tax fine since the players fines are given to NBA charities.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

I am thinking it is a pre-tax fine since the players fines are given to NBA charities.

Wow. He's really going to miss the money.

He makes an estimated $55,541.78 per quarter.

 

[95pro]

Wow. He's really going to miss the money.

He makes an estimated $55,541.78 per quarter.

Hey man, money is money.

 

[TJ]

If Amare were to appeal the fine I think he has a good chance of getting the fine reduced or even winning.

How many appeals have players prevailed when the crime was using homophobic slurs?

He has no argument whatsoever and should just apologize and find his checkbook.

 

[TJ]

Wow. He's really going to miss the money.

He makes an estimated $55,541.78 per quarter.

What was equally as repulsive as his gay slur was his defense when he was with PHX.

I would be in favor of him being docked a quarter's salary per game he doesn't front his man.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Hey man, money is money.

It's literally like a couple of dollars to him (making over $18.2 million per year) compared to the average NBA fan that doesn't make that much in an entire year.

At least it goes to charity.

 

[SactownSunsFan]

Private message with an individual. Yes, he could be fined, but its really stupid to do so. They can call each other much worse than that on the court, on a recording and call it art, with no consequences whatsoever.

Yeah, pretty pathetic on guy's part to take a private message and make it public.