Gilbert Arenas Apologizes After His Xenophobic Comments About South Sudan’s Basketball Team, Social Media Reacts

Source: Scott Taetsch / Getty

America’s talent is largely lauded as world-class, but if it weren’t for a clutch layup by LeBron James and a missed buzzer-beating putback by the South Sudanese, the 101-100 game would have ended differently.

But retired NBA player Gilbert Arenas has resorted to making offensive, xenophobic remarks about the African team’s players on his No Chill Gil podcast, even referring to them as “the Cool Runnings team,” in reference to the Jamaican bobsled team from the 1988 Winter Olympics.

“We almost lost to the Ahi Ahi tribe. This is crazy,” he said. “Man, Embiid over there goddamn throwing the game because he’s throwing the game for his cousins and sh-t.”

Embiid isn’t even Sudanese; he’s Cameroonian. He responded disappointedly to Agent Zero’s comments, remarking on how crucial African basketball has become for international players and advancing the sport.

“If it was that negative, it’s just that disappointing,” Embiid said. “Because you see what African basketball has done for us to be in this position to be able to make some sort of impact, even the position that I am [in]. … It’s really unfortunate, especially in the world we live in right now, so much negativity.”

Gil tried to apologize after many were outraged at his ignorant comments, but he dug his heels in deeper, claiming he was trying to make jokes and didn’t intend to offend anyone.

“I made some jokes about the South Sudan basketball team, and some folks are saying it was racist. I just wanna set the record straight – that ain’t me. I was just clownin’, trying to bring some humor, nothing more, nothing less,” he said.

Gil has also apologized to former NBA player Luol Deng, who currently serves as the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, who called his comments “disrespectful and cruel.”

“I respected u as a player and will as a coach (Sorry for my Disrespectful comments),” Arenas said, according to TMZ .

See how social media is reacting to Arenas’ remarks below.