“They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.’”
The Chicago Bulls NBA team announced on Monday that it has waived guard Jaden Ivey "due to conduct detrimental to the team." This comes after Ivey posted a series of videos to social media in which he called the league’s celebration of Pride Month "unrighteous," and said "I’m born again," and "I’ve been saved by Jesus Christ."
"They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They show it to the world. They say, 'Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.' They proclaim it. They proclaim it on the billboards, they proclaim it in the streets, unrighteousness."
Ivey had been acquired by the Bulls in a trade with the Detroit Pistons in February, per ESPN. He appeared in four games with the Bulls before a knee injury took him out for the season.
https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/2038738011270316391?s=20
Ivey said in February after sitting out a game for the first time in his career, "I’m sure people can call it out that I’m not the same player as I used to be. That’s why I’m not the JI I used to be. The old JI is dead. I’m alive in Christ. No matter what the basketball setting is, I’m born again in The Holy Spirit, and I’ve been saved by Jesus Christ. No matter how many DNPs I don’t get to play or no matter how many points I score, these things are a temporary thing."
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said ahead of Monday night’s game against the Spurs that the team had hoped Ivey would be a part of the team long term when it acquired him in February. Ivey will be a free agent heading into the offseason.
Donovan told reporters, "There's a certain level of expectations and standards that are here. Everybody comes with their own personal experiences, right? But we have to all be professional, there has to be a high level of respect for one another, and we've got to help each other and be accountable to those standards."
In August, Ivey and his wife, Caitlyn, revealed that they had been baptised earlier in the summer. They share two children together, Noah James and Shiloh Elizabeth.
The Chicago Bulls hosted their eighth annual Pride Night on January 10, featuring a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Per a press release from the team, it featured "a special showing of Bulls Entertainment Presents: Friends of Dorothy."
"'Friend of Dorothy' has been historically used within the LGBTQIA+ community to identify fellow community members when being openly gay was dangerous or socially unacceptable. It originated as a reference to the character of Dorothy Gale in Wizard of Oz, played by Judy Garland," the press release stated.
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