JJ Redick Apologizes For Uttering Racial Slur In Chinese New Year Video

By Shawn Leigh On 20 February 2018

Philadelphia 76ers shooting guard JJ Redick has issued an apology after he appeared to utter a racial slur in a video wishing fans a happy Chinese New Year. During the video, produced by Chinese media company Tencent, Redick appears to say, “I just wanted to wish all the NBA c—k fans China a very happy Chinese New Year.”

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Redick explained in his apology that he was “tongue-tied” and that the “word I purportedly said is not in my vocabulary.” He also released a statement on social media describing how he intended to say “NBA Chinese fans” before changing his mind mid-sentence to “NBA fans in China,” which resulted in the slip up.

“It came out the wrong way,” Redick said in the tweet. “At the time we recorded it, no one in the room … heard the word that I purported to say. Had I known it sounded anything like that, I would have been mortified and recorded the greeting over again.”

According to ESPN, Redick’s comment was included in the video titled, “30 NBA Players Wish Chinese Fans a Happy New Year,” which aired during halftime a game between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trailblazers on February 14. Tencent has since released another edited video in which Redick is not included.