Allen Iverson became the latest star athlete to signal support for Louis Farrakhan on Tuesday. Two days later, he ended up disavowing the Nation of Islam leader’s rampant anti-Semitism, but did not apologize.
The matter began when Iverson posted a three-year-old picture of himself meeting Farrakhan on Instagram, including the hashtag “#BucketListMoment” in his post.
Iverson followed up that post with a lengthy statement on Thursday in which he said his support of Farrakhan stems from a relationship with Farrakhan’s son Mustapha. He described Farrakhan — whom the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as an anti-Semitic extremist — as a “strong voice” for the Black community, but also claimed Farrakhan’s remarks were different from his own beliefs.