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ESPN 'Get Up' TV show panel, TCA Winter Press Tour, Los Angeles, USA - 12 Jan 2018

Source: Variety / Getty

Phil Jackson’s anti-Black Lives Matter comments have even upset former NBA Players.

Jalen Rose caught wind of Jackson’s opinions on how the league has changed since the 2020 season finished in the Bubble and let off a little steam.

“The same Phil Jackson that won championships with some of the greatest Black athletes in the history of the game – Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant. Made millions on their backs and off their sweat equity,” Rose says, explaining how important Black people are to the evolution of basketball.

Since Jackson admits he already stopped watching the NBA, Rose instructs him never to tune in again.

“You’re sitting up watching the game with your grandkids, and y’all think it’s funny when justice passes the ball to equal opportunity. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them. So stop watching forever,” Rose said.

The controversy goes back to Jackson’s appearance on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast, where the legendary coach says he doesn’t watch the NBA anymore because of the progressive slogans that players were allowed to wear on the back of jerseys in the NBA Bubble amid the social unrest after George Floyd’s killing in 2020.

“I watched some of the game evolve and decided…and they went into the lockout year, and they did something that was kind of wanky. They did a bubble down in Orlando, and all the teams that could qualify went down here and stayed down there. And they had things on their back like justice. I mean, a little funny thing like justice just went to the basket, and equal opportunity just knocked him down,” the Hall of Famer said. “So my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names, so I couldn’t watch that.”

Rose isn’t the first player to raise his eyebrows at Jackson’s actions. Scottie Pippen previously took aim at Jackson and called him racist when explaining why the then-coach drew up a game-winning play for Toni Kukoc instead of him.

See how Twitter reacted to Jackson’s comments below.

Jalen Rose Fires Back At Phil Jackson Over Anti Black Lives Matter Remarks: “Stop Watching Forever”  was originally published on cassiuslife.com