What the HELL was the NBA/Silver thinking involving Karl Malone so much in all-star weekend?

[HotelVitale]

Mike Tyson was arrested for raping a woman in the early 90s. His former trainer pulled a gun on Tyson for inappropriately touching his underage daughter, yet people love Mike Tyson.

Who 'loves' Mike Tyson? He's a boxing legend and one of the most feared men in American sports history. Acknowledging that, or being interested in some of the other things he does/says doesn't mean we 'love' him as a person.

People understand Mike Tyson to be a deeply damaged, deeply flawed human being. I agree that people also have some affection for the humor and eccentricity he's maintained throughout his life but I think the general public has a very clear sense that Tyson has had a f'd up life and been harmed and caused harm.

[Pharmcat]

Bisme37 when he walks into this thread

[QingJames]

You're wrong.

Why are you intent on stressing that Malone isn’t a pedo?

Does it make his rape of a child more palatable to you because the little girl had her first period before Malone raped her?

Because words have meaning and you're lessening the stigma of a very serious and gross disorder with people who actively prey on younger women who are sexually developed but we don't believe are remotely ready for sex mentally. Understanding and using words to separate the two things is VERY important.

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

[Priest24]

IMO he shouldn't pay eternally for what he did. We don't even know how is his relationship with his son and the mother right now. What if the guy reconciled? Would it be suddenly be ok? Is this for us to judge?

It looks like Bell and Malone do have more of a relationship now.

https://www.totalprosports.com/nba/karl-malone-seems-to-finally-have-a-relationship-with-the-son-he-fathered-with-a-13-year-old-pics/

This is the ultimate point of this discussion to me.One of the main people who was damaged by the situation have forgiven Karl and moved on. This person realized that even though it was an unfortunate set of circumstances that happened they would not be there if it didn't happen.I can only assume his mother and anyone else with anger came to the same conclusion. Why can't anyone here do that and let this conversation go? If you don't hold these athletes and stars in such high regard in the first place you'll never be so terribly disappointed.

[heatwillbeback]

I didn’t like his inclusion.

Of course they didn’t mention the controversy because why would you want that discussed at all star weekend. But any discussion of Malone without the full picture is disingenuous.

[dhsilv2]

Why are you intent on stressing that Malone isn’t a pedo?

Does it make his rape of a child more palatable to you because the little girl had her first period before Malone raped her?

Because words have meaning and you're lessening the stigma of a very serious and gross disorder with people who actively prey on younger women who are sexually developed but we don't believe are remotely ready for sex mentally. Understanding and using words to separate the two things is VERY important.

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

[infinite11285]

Because words have meaning and you're lessening the stigma of a very serious and gross disorder with people who actively prey on younger women who are sexually developed but we don't believe are remotely ready for sex mentally. Understanding and using words to separate the two things is VERY important.

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

There's a significant difference between an adult being romantically involved with a 19-year-old (legal adult) and a prepubescent 12-year-old.

[QingJames]

Because words have meaning and you're lessening the stigma of a very serious and gross disorder with people who actively prey on younger women who are sexually developed but we don't believe are remotely ready for sex mentally. Understanding and using words to separate the two things is VERY important.

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

False equivalency. More muddying the waters on your part. No-one buys the “I’m just doing my part as a dictionary enthusiast” bit.

19 is a legal adult.
16 can even legally consent to sex in some states.
12 is a child. Many girls don’t even enter puberty until they are older than 12. Malone, a 20 year old, fully grown adult man raped and impregnated a 12 year old CHILD.

Just because she had a period does not make her less of a child, but this is a tactic many pedo apologists and closeted pedos use in a bald-faced attempt to try and diminish the victim’s innocence.

Let me ask you again, is it somehow more palatable to you if we call Malone a hebeophile and a rapist rather than a pedophile and a rapist? Why is it so important to you that we make sure people know the little girl Malone forced himself on had at least one period beforehand? That makes it less horrific?

But you and I both know the real reason you’re playing these word games in bad faith.

[dhsilv2]

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

There's a significant difference between an adult being romantically involved with a 19-year-old (legal adult) and a prepubescent 12-year-old.

Agree, but this was NOT a prepubescent 12 year old which we know as she had a kid!

The point I'm getting at is this is the very reason why the NBA doesn't want to touch this stuff. We don't agree as a society on what is or isn't wrong. We do have a term, pedophile, which is distinctly for people attractive prepubescent children. When we use it to describe anything we PERSONALLY feel is wrong, it's a problem. We can't even agree on what the age of consent is. It's still legal in some states to marry a 14 year old. Meanwhile two 17 years olds having sex in a state can BOTH be sexual assaulting each other. And yes, we have people calling Leo a pedophile for dating a woman who's 19 despite it clearly being legal everywhere in the country.

Words have mean and this topic is incredibly complicated. I'd hope everyone agrees what Malone did was wrong. But I'm also pretty sure the NBA doesn't want to try and set some rules or qualifications around because it's just too complicated for an entertainment company to step into.

[KokoKaizer]

I'm tired of those threads...

One good thing, it shows the true color of some of us, and it's pretty sad

I'm hoping for a lock

[dhsilv2]

Pretty sure the only one who is lessening the stigma of child rape is you trying to play word games to make it seem less bad.

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

False equivalency. More muddying the waters on your part. No-one buys the “I’m just doing my part as a dictionary enthusiast” bit.

19 is a legal adult.
16 can even legally consent to sex in some states.
12 is a child. Many girls don’t even enter puberty until they are older than 12. Malone, a 20 year old, fully grown adult man raped and impregnated a 12 year old CHILD.

Just because she had a period does not make her less of a child, but this is a tactic many pedo apologists and closeted pedos use in a bald-faced attempt to try and diminish the victim’s innocence.

Let me ask you again, is it somehow more palatable to you if we call Malone a hebeophile and a rapist rather than a pedophile and a rapist? Why is it so important to you that we make sure people know the little girl Malone forced himself on had at least one period beforehand? That makes it less horrific?

But you and I both know the real reason you’re playing these word games in bad faith.

At this point it seems clearly you understand that you used the word incorrectly.

[infinite11285]

No, people misusing these terms are doing it. Just like when DiCaprio gets called a pedo for dating a woman who is 19.

There's a significant difference between an adult being romantically involved with a 19-year-old (legal adult) and a prepubescent 12-year-old.

Agree, but this was NOT a prepubescent 12 year old which we know as she had a kid!

You're splitting hairs over the use of the word "prepubescent?" Fine. According to societal standards, including legal and medical definitions, she was a child at the time of inception. Omitting the word prepubescent doesn't change the result, which should be the more significant point.

[TheGOATWill]

When I lived in South Carolina, there was a bill on the ballot (in a national election year) to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16. It barely passed. Almost a million people voted no. You probably think this was 50 years ago. This was in 2008. There was talk of whether people who already had a 14 y/o gf would be grandfathered in. I'm dead serious. Obviously I moved as soon as I got the chance. Point being, there's more people than you think that are just fine with what Malone did.

[dhsilv2]

There's a significant difference between an adult being romantically involved with a 19-year-old (legal adult) and a prepubescent 12-year-old.

Agree, but this was NOT a prepubescent 12 year old which we know as she had a kid!

You're splitting hairs over the use of the word "prepubescent?" Fine, but according to every definition and societal standard, she was a child at the time of inception. Omitting the word prepubescent doesn't change the result, which is should be the more important point.

A child is a young human being below the age of puberty. So it's literally the defining difference here.

Nobody is trying to say this in anyway makes this more or less wrong. Nobody is going to support 20 year olds sleeping with 12 year olds. Pre/post or with double D's....it's still wrong and an obvious abuse of the power dynamic between the two.

[zeebneeb]

What he did was wrong, on multiple levels, and it's indefensible. What he did afterwards, is equally as wrong. (Denying the child was his, having to go to court, telling the child it's to late for a relationship)

What the NBA is doing by celebrating him, is also wrong, as what he did was wrong, and vile. A person that age, cannot properly understand what is happening to them. The human brain doesn't finish fully developing until the mid twenties, so she was in no way capable of giving any kind of consent, period.

What the NBA has done, is open themselves up to a myriad of attacks from multiple angles. There was no justifiable reason to have him present during the weekend. None. It's actually mind-boggling from just a business perspective to open yourself, as a business entity, to this level of attack, and controversy. They could lose multiple ad revenue sources, and lead to some businesses not working with them altogether. This isn't a a small time crime, or even a middling crime, but rape of a minor.

The real question here should not be why, but who, or what group of decision makers decided this was a good idea?.

Me personally, I wouldn't have held the damn game in Utah, to avoid any of this. As an organization, the NBA should distance itself as far as possible from Malone, not embrace it. This happened in the past, and was not properly handled by the NBA, that is a fact. He should have been booted out of the damn league.

Current NBA heads have shown the exact same level of disinterest in the appalling as back then, by celebrating a child rapist. It's absolutely stupid, disgusting, and shows a bewildering lack of self-awareness.

In a display of how stupid this is, the league, as it should, has shunned women beater Miles Bridges, who pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, but puts a known child rapist, up on a pedestal, and awards him. How the hell does one reconcile this?

Now, with all of that said, Malone, the women, or the child(now adult, grown man who has had success in his life)personal lives, or current state of relationship, is none of anyones business. How they handled it, and continue to handle it, is their business.

The NBA though in honoring Malone, has once again, made this a topic of conversation, dredging up the controversy from decades ago, affecting the Mother, and son, again.

Yes Malone was a great basketball player, but he is also a terrible human being, that should never be judging anyone, on anything ever. Yes, even a dunk contest.

[KodiakBear]

Mike Tyson was arrested for raping a woman in the early 90s. His former trainer pulled a gun on Tyson for inappropriately touching his underage daughter, yet people love Mike Tyson.

Who 'loves' Mike Tyson? He's a boxing legend and one of the most feared men in American sports history. Acknowledging that, or being interested in some of the other things he does/says doesn't mean we 'love' him as a person.

He’s rehabilitated his public image. He’s been in movies, tv shows, roasts, podcasts. No one even brings up his past.

Yeah Mike Tyson might be the most rehabilitated celebrity in history. 20 years ago he was mostly hated for the things he had done. Now he is this beloved figure in blockbuster movies and doing friendly interviews from late night to the biggest podcasts in the world. It is like society just decided one day to flip a switch and decide his bad things didn't matter. In some ways the anti Malone since 20 years ago very few people talked about Malone's crimes.

[MrGoat]

Well, ever since Epstein's murder, oh, I mean suicide, it's been really hard for guys like Adam Silver and the billionaire owners to find girls but a guy like Karl Malone would likely know where to find them now. Malone probably hooked them up

[Clyde Frazier]

It was really embarrassing and disappointing. That aside, he didn't exactly look like he wanted to be there either.

[PedroFlu]

Social and moral consciousness is a big improvement in society. But in excess it becomes artificial, non meaningful, hypocrite. This is a great example right here.

Let other people live their **** lives. This is pathetic, honestly.

[infinite11285]

Agree, but this was NOT a prepubescent 12 year old which we know as she had a kid!

You're splitting hairs over the use of the word "prepubescent?" Fine, but according to every definition and societal standard, she was a child at the time of inception. Omitting the word prepubescent doesn't change the result, which is should be the more important point.

A child is a young human being below the age of puberty. So it's literally the defining difference here.

A child is defined as a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.

When Karl Malone attended Louisiana Tech and impregnated Gloria Bell, the age of consent was 17. In the legal context, Karl Malone violated Louisiana's statutory rape statute (e.g., he illegally had sex with someone Louisiana acknowledges as underage). Bell's family could have pressed statutory rape charges, but they didn't because, according to Gloria, Malone was "a neighborhood kid." After refusing to engage in his son's life or pay child support, Malone eventually agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the Bell family a few years later. Malone eventually became involved with his son, Demetress Bell, once he was an established vet in the NFL.

Bottomline: He raped an underage girl, and the only reason he went on to enjoy an HoF NBA career is because Bell's parents chose to drop the charges against him. Karl Malone is a scumbag, period. He committed several other truly awful acts throughout his playing career, and I don't understand why he's honored instead of summarily condemned.