Suns president Rick Welts, who this weekend made it public he is gay, told The Post that Kobe Bryant’s homophobic rant at a referee last month was a “constructive” event.
Bryant was fined $100,000 by the NBA for calling referee Bennie Adams a homophobic slur. Bryant later apologized.
“I have been around the game long enough to know what an intense competitor he is,” Welts said yesterday in a phone interview after landing in New York for a publicity tour. “He was just into the game at that point. It’s not acceptable, but I consider it another step in having it be part of the conversation. It got of people talking about the use of that slur, people that wouldn’t have talked about it. In some ways, it was constructive.”
Welts, 58, also believes David Stern’s fine was just. Ironically, Bryant’s attack came the day after Welts told Stern he was going public with his orientation after deliberating for a year.
“Stern told me 50 percent of people commenting thought the league was too heavy-handed, 50 percent said we weren’t rough enough, so it must have been right,” Welts said.
Welts said his disclosure is not related to the NBA not being sensitive to those issues.
“The NBA consistently scores the highest marks for diversity within organizations,” Welts said. “I think the NBA is frankly younger and more in touch with most social issues because of the leadership of the league.”
So why did he feel compelled now to go public? Six months ago, Welts called his friend of 30 years, Dan Klores, for advice and later hired the Klores public relations firm to handle the matter. Yesterday, Welts spoke with NPR, Time Magazine and Forbes, and today he will do interviews CNN, ESPN, and MSNBC.
“The question with me: Was there something good that could be done by telling my story publicly?” Welts said. “It was a year process. The young people out there living a life not much different than mine, I want them to feel they can follow their passion. I want to encourage somebody it’s worth doing, to accomplish what they want in spite of or because of who they are and how society may define them.”
Welts, who has been with the Suns since 2002 after a long stint as the NBA’s marketing chief, received many messages yesterday from friends saluting his courage, including one from Mike and Laurel D’Antoni. Mike D’Antoni worked with Welts in Phoenix.
“Rick was a marketing genius,” D’Antoni said. “He is a talented and great guy.”
Welts returned the compliment.
“Mike was a wonderful experience for our fans, he was a dream to deal with, his self-deprecating humor worked well in our market,” Welts said.