Former NBA star Stephen Jackson, who won a championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, waded into this week’s gorilla controversy.
Jackson posted an Instagram comment of a confrontation he had with a man at his gym. He said that a few older white men were joking around, with saying the 17-year-old gorilla that was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo resembled tennis star Serena Williams.
“So I just got out of my workout,” Jackson said in a clip. “And some older white man was talking about the gorilla that got shot at the zoo, right? And I’m just sitting up working out, I’m not paying no attention. And the older white man says, ‘What? They shot Serena? Oh, Serena got shot?’ and started laughing.”
“Should I say something or should I just let that go?” Jackson said to himself.
He then went after the man, demanding an apology.
“I straight up told old boy, ‘I heard ya, and it’s wrong.’ He tried to apologize and say it’s just a joke. Ain’t no joke,” Jackson said. “Serena don’t look like a gorilla, and none of us do. With that being said, that [expletive] ain’t cool; I had to address it. I’m far from being racist because I love everybody, but I felt like I had to say something…you never know who’s listening.”
