Jaden Ivey #31, formerly of the Chicago Bulls.
A grotesque double standard has existed in American professional sports for years, whereby violent criminal acts are punished with only a slap on the wrist while expressions of Christian faith or conservative values often result in immediate criticism or even dismissal from the team.
That was the case again this week following comments from Chicago Bulls guard Jaden Ivey, a third-year player out of Purdue University. In a series of Instagram livestreams, Ivey criticized Pride Month and the NBA for promoting what he called “unrighteousness.”
“The world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?” Ivey told viewers. “They proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.”
Hours later, the Bulls waived Ivey (effectively, they fired him) for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Coach Billy Donovan later said that there is “a certain level of standards and expectations that are here” and implied that Ivey was not being “professional.”
Following Ivey’s dismissal from the team, running back TreVeyon Henderson of the NFL’s New England Patriots, another outspoken Christian, posted several Bible verses appearing to support Ivey’s comments. New York Jets cornerback Azareye’h Thomas also posted in support of Ivey.
So far, Henderson hasn’t been let go from the team, but he has received thinly veiled criticism from head coach Mike Vrabel. Though Vrabel said he “loves” Henderson, he also said that he wants the team to be “inclusive” and wants his players to be “educated.”
Compare that to how the Patriots responded when Henderson’s former teammate Stefon Diggs was charged with the violent assault of a woman.
According to police reports, Diggs engaged in felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault and battery following a dispute over pay with his personal chef. The chef claims Diggs slapped her, placed her in a chokehold that made it difficult to breathe, and threw her onto a bed. Diggs has pleaded not guilty, and his legal team has denied the allegations, arguing they are financially motivated and tied to the underlying pay dispute. The case is ongoing.
But that isn’t the only alleged crime that Diggs has been involved in. In recent years, he has faced multiple accusations tied to violent or abusive conduct, including a civil lawsuit alleging sexual battery and physical assault stemming from an incident in 2023, as well as a separate dispute with an ex-girlfriend who accused him of assault, causing a concussion.
At no point in this disturbing pattern of allegations did the NFL or Diggs’ coaches or teammates offer anything close to the condemnation Henderson is now facing – much less cut him from the team. Instead, the Patriots simply said they “support Stefon.”
That same story has played out time and again in the NFL and NBA. According to a 2021 study on the NFL, “players who committed ‘general violence’ – that is, violence not specific to women – received, on average, less than a third of the minimum requirement for number of games suspended, according to league policy.” Acts of violence against women specifically resulted in longer suspensions but “still fewer games than the league minimum.” A former NFL manager has alleged that teams ignore “hundreds” of domestic abuse cases.
Recent examples of how the NBA has handled domestic violence cases further highlight the appalling standard for what teams deem “acceptable” from players.
In 2022, rising star Miles Bridges was charged with assaulting his former girlfriend, Mychelle Johnson, in front of the pair’s two children. Photos showed severe bruising on Johnson’s face and body, and she posted on social media that she suffered a fractured nose and wrist, torn eardrum, torn muscles in her neck from being choked, and a severe concussion. Bridges pleaded no contest in the case – an acceptance of punishment without an explicit admission of guilt.
Despite this astonishingly violent attack that very well could have killed Johnson, Bridges received a suspension of just 30 games. Even more shockingly, the NBA then ruled that since Bridges didn’t play for an NBA team in the 2022-2023 season (because he was facing possible imprisonment) he only had to serve 10 games of that suspension in the 2023-2024 season – the league minimum for “unlawful violence.”
The Chicago Bulls cut Jaden Ivey for “conduct detrimental to the team” for voicing his sincerely held religious beliefs. But apparently, Bridges’ conduct wasn’t “detrimental” enough to prevent the NBA from only suspending him for 10 games and the Charlotte Hornets from signing him to a $7.9 million contract for the 2023-2024 season. A year later, Charlotte signed him to a three-year, $75 million deal.
Another Hornets player, Jeffrey Taylor, also got away with minimal punishment after he pushed his girlfriend out of a hotel room in 2014, causing her to hit her head on the door across the hall. Taylor pleaded guilty in that case, yet the NBA suspended him for just 24 games.
Apparently, to NBA teams, beating your girlfriend or shoving her so hard she stumbles across a hallway is forgivable, but voicing opposition to LGBTQ+ ideology and publicly professing Christian faith is a bridge too far.
This glaring double standard provides a window into the moral depravity and absurd rules of woke ideology as a whole. Actions matter less than obedience to left-wing dogma, to the point where actual physical violence is excused while dissent from the “approved” set of social views is tantamount to career suicide.
Shane Harris is the Editor-in-Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
