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Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard was the target of two anti-gay slurs allegedly shouted by a pair of fans following a game against the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Monday night, ESPN reported Tuesday. The fans reportedly shouted the slurs at Lillard as he was walking to the team bus after the Trail Blazers' 108-107 loss at Target Center. A mobile phone video showed Lillard confronting the hecklers and asking, "Which one of you all said that?"
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The video purportedly shows an accused individual apologizing.
"I don't bother nobody. They were straight disrespectful," Lillard told ESPN.
Athlete Ally, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending homophobia and transphobia in sports, released a statement to ESPN on the issue Tuesday.
"The use of these homophobic slurs have no place in sports or in society," Athlete Ally executive director Hudson Taylor said in the statement via ESPN.com. "Fan sections remain one of the most unsafe places for the LGBTQ community, and will remain so if these slurs aren't met with condemnation and continued education."
Lillard had 17 points and 13 assists in the loss to Minnesota. The two-time All-Star is averaging 25.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.1 rebounds for Portland this season, his sixth in the NBA.
