Warriors' Draymond Green Says He 'Was Wrong' for Calling Kendrick Perkins Racial Slur
June 30, 2022
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green apologized for calling ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins a "c--n" during an episode of his podcast.
Green said Wednesday at the 6:24 mark of his newest episode it was down to a misunderstanding, and he "could've very well replaced the word with clown" in terms of what he was trying to convey.
"Growing up the way I grew up—not even the way I grew up but where I grew up—you may say to one of your boys, 'Stop acting like a c--n,'" he said. "For me, it's like, stop acting corny, you're on some weird-type stuff. ... So for me, in using the word, that's what I was implying. However, in understanding that everyone didn't grow up in Saginaw, Michigan, everyone didn't grow up with my friends, this is such a huge moment for growth and learning for me as I said in being a rookie in this business and understanding that that word does not mean the same thing to everyone. ... As someone who stands against racism, who has stood against it for years and is not afraid to get out in front of it, I can admit right here that I was wrong."
Green originally took exception to Perkins telling the Old Man and the Three podcast that he prayed LeBron James would get injured ahead of Game 7 in the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals between James' Cleveland Cavaliers and Perkins' Boston Celtics.
As part of his response, Green said the former center went "from being enforcer to c--n."
That prompted a stern response from Perkins in a since-deleted video.
"Forget the old media. Forget the new media. I'ma stand by the old law," he said (h/t Awful Announcing's Brandon Contes). "The old law says all that disrespect and all that whole s--t of calling someone a c--n, man you got me f--ked up. Ain't nothing a c--n about me. I ain't no c--n."
Perkins also described Green as "all bark and no bite."
Ferris State University, which houses the Jim Crow Museum, explained that "the c--n caricature is one of the most insulting of all anti-Black caricatures" and dates back to the days of slavery.
Andscape's Brando Simeo Starkey wrote the word has evolved to become "an intraracial slur to castigate a certain type of Black person who betrays the race."