Earlier this week, the Chicago Bulls made the decision to waive guard Jaden Ivey, who they had acquired as recently as February due to his objectional views on the LGBT+ movement. The LGBT+ movement is therefore a hot topic in the NBA right now. And therefore it is of note that a former Brooklyn Nets player has basically mimicked what Ivey said, on his own podcast, seemingly without remorse.
Mile Ilic, once of the then-New Jersey Nets (albeit for only six minutes), spoke on a variety of topics in an appearance with another former NBA player, Croatian international center Mario Kasun (formerly of the Orlando Magic), on the podcast that bears his name. After his playing career ended two years ago, Ilic set up a podcast named Jao Mile – a pun on Yao Ming, according to Wikipedia – where he posts regular episodes featuring interviews with former playing contemporaries, Kasun included.
In this instance, Ilic and Kasun spoke on politics, race relations, the Spanish police, multicultural societies, the LGBTQ+ movement, and the Tate brothers. If that sounds like a bad idea, rest assured that it was.
Note How Ilic Laughs Along Willingly
The following comes from the embedded Instagram short posted by Jao Mile’s production team. The captions were translated initially via Google Translate, before being edited and confirmed by multiple translators that are native Serbian speakers who spoke with Heavy. The result is an amalgamation of their interpretations of the various colloquialisms used by the pair:
KASUN [referring to Spain, where he lives]: So, imagine this. I have a house, I am going to Croatia for ten days, and someone breaks into my house. You have an alarm and other things […] and the alarm goes off. The police don’t come, for whatever reason. Within 24 hours, if he’s not kicked out, he has the right to live in your house for free for a year.
ILIC: Wait, bro….
KASUN: I swear on my child’s life, bro, that’s the situation. In my town, an old couple went on a cruise for 15 days. The house is worth 16 million euros. A family of gypsies rushed in, and the mayor was even bringing them food. Poor them [the old couple], in debt, for 70 years. Who is the normal one here? The police come in, break down the door and used pepper spray on that family. What happened to the guns? And God knows what these [cuts off mid-sentence].
Everything has become deranged. You have some laws that have nothing to do with real life. And now you have this situation – by the way, I really have nothing against gay people [but b]rother, keep it behind closed doors. Now they’ve started to appear in everything. They’re trying to get into schools, [and teach] 10-year-olds talking about transgenders, gays or lesbians. Well bro, keep it behind closed doors. Call me old-fashioned, I have gay friends and everything, but I don’t go around with a **** and hit people in the head with it on the street.
ILIC: [laughs]
KASUN: You get me? [laughs] Well, ****, yeah. I mean, call me old-fashioned, call me stupid, call me whatever. I can’t say some things are normal; I can’t be convinced that something is normal when it’s not normal.
ILIC: Yeah, they have such a need to show that what they’re already doing is okay. Awful, bro, awful. And what’s worst is, most of these pro-European governments are funding it so much.
KASUN: Well, look, we’re going back to some Satanism, let’s call it that. Look at the last Olympics – bro, don’t **** with me. It [referring to the Queer Last Supper images at the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony] was made with the highest level of Satanism. Mocking the Catholic Orthodox faith, mocking us Christians. And then they say, “That Tate dude, the Tate brothers are crazy…”. They came out to defend our faith, and they are Muslims! [points at head to signify bewilderment]
ILIC: It’s all gone too far.
KASUN: Brother, the world has gone to ****, it’s unreal. I feel sorry for my child, your child, his child. It is easy for us, we’ve been through the wringer already; I say, if I die tomorrow, I’ll say: “I lived to the fullest.” [But] what will those poor kids live for? My child can’t walk 50 meters from his house to the store after 5 pm. Where is that normal? And in Serbia, in Croatia, you can still to this day go from one end of Zagreb, at any time of the day, without anyone touching you. But now the [racial epithets] are starting to come, now this **** is getting out of hand.
Make It Make Sense
Kasun is the worst offender, largely on account of doing the bulk of the talking, as should be expected of a podcast guest. Ilic, though, is a willing accomplice. Their views may not be considered as offensive or controversial in their relative countries of origin, but the echoes of those of Ivey – who lost his job over his – are obvious.
The entire episode is available to watch in the embedded video below. If Ilic and Kasun’s comments in the above excerpts are somehow diluted in the wider context of the full video that somehow mitigate what they have said – remember that it was not Heavy who presented them that way. These were the clips that the Jao Mile team chose to promote, while Ilic laughed along and agreed. They hardly seem ashamed. And it is hard to fathom what context would change the sentiments anyway.
Ilic and the production crew have both so far not responded to multiple approaches by Heavy via email. Kasun has not been approached because he does not seem like someone worth hearing from. Why would we want to hear more of that?
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Former Nets Center Calls the LQBT Movement “Awful” appeared first on Heavy Sports.