MIAMI, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Former Miami Heat guard Tim Hardaway has been dropped as an NBA spokesman after telling a radio interviewer he hates homosexuals.
Hardaway, speaking on the Miami radio station 790 The Ticket, said that if he had been on a team with someone who came out as gay he would have asked for a trade either of the homosexual player or himself, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
"Well, you know, I hate gay people," Hardaway said. "I let it be known, I don't like gay people. I don't like to be around gay people.
He released a brief apology through his agent, but said in another interview that he would not speak to any relatives he knew were gay.
Last week, John Amaechi, a former guard with the Utah Jazz, became the first NBA player to reveal he is gay. Amaechi, who now lives in his native England, is about to publish a book, "Man in the Middle."
Hardaway, who played with the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets, was part of the NBA'S Community Caravan for the All-Star Game.
"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement.
