Andrew Bogut said pressure on players to take the knee is just “not right” – questioning whether cricketers knew what BLM actually stands for.
Former NBA star Andrew Bogut has hit out at the Australian cricket team’s “cultish” decision to take the knee at the start of the test series against the West Indies.
Speaking to Sky News Australia, the NBA Championship-winning centre and host of the Rogue Bogues podcast questioned whether players understood what Black Lives Matter stood for before making the statement.
He also spoke about the prejudice he experienced growing up why that hadn’t affected his feelings towards his home country.
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“I just hope they’re not doing it because everyone else is,” Mr Bogut said.
“I’d hope they have all read what what’s come out of the US the last 6-12 months regarding BLM.
“I think initially it had the right things in mind with everything going on over there, but it’s been pretty well exposed.
“It’s not just about race, it’s about breaking up the nuclear family, and its pivoted towards other causes. I believe even funded some drag queen type projects.
“And if that’s your thing, cool. But I hope they know about all that.”
Mr Bogut also highlighted reports that the founders of BLM had used funds donated to the charity to buy multi-million dollar homes in the hills of California and how the money donated to help black communities has failed to reach them.
When questioned about the similarity between Colin Kaepernick feeling forced to sing the national anthem and players now feeling pressured to take the knee, Mr Bogut said the issues were the same.
“There would be players on that team that don’t want to do it, that are very, very pressured to do it and they don’t want to be that odd man out and then be questioned by media. And that in itself is not right,” he said.
However, the former NBA star – who represented Australia 52 times at a junior and senior level – also said he thought players needed to put aside their personal feelings when representing their country.
“I was one that always, when I represented Australia – especially abroad – I’d sing the national anthem. No matter how frustrated I was at times,” he said.
Australian captain Pat Cummins said he was “not too bothered†by critics for taking the knee in solidarity with the West Indies.https://t.co/no8fVcueZC
This was not because he had never experienced prejudice.
“Look I grew up being called a ‘wog’, right. But I still am very thankful and my family is very thankful for what Australia has given me,” Mr Bogut said
“I’m not going to let a small percentage of people who use that slur dictate that Australia is bad as a whole.”
“I think you’ve got to separate the two. Especially when you’re abroad and are representing your national team.”
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