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Noah fined $50,000 for using anti-gay insult to fan
Updated: 2011-05-24 15:11
(Agencies)
Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah celebrates as he leaves the game against the Miami Heat during the second half in Game 1 of their NBA Eastern Conference Finals playoff basketball game in Chicago, May 15, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] |
MIAMI - Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah was fined $50,000 by the NBA after he made an anti-gay slur to a Miami Heat fan during his team's 96-85 playoff defeat on Sunday.
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"The fan said something to me that I thought was disrespectful and I got caught up in the moment and I responded," said Noah after Sunday's game.
"I said some things that I shouldn't have said. I was frustrated and I didn't mean any disrespect to anybody."
The league has taken a strong stance against homophobic insults since Kobe Bryant made an anti-gay remark to a referee in a playoff game last month.
Bryant, one of the NBA's most-recognizable and highest-paid players, was fined $100,000 while the league now broadcasts commercials featuring players urging fans not to make anti-homosexual comments.
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