ESPN reporter Chris Broussard, who came under fire Monday for arguing that NBA player Jason Collins was waging an “open rebellion to God” for coming out of the closet, elaborated on those remarks in a statement posted on Twitter the same day.
In the statement, Broussard emphasized that he was offering his “personal opinion as it relates to Christianity” and that “those beliefs have not and will not impact my ability to report on the NBA.”
“I believe Jason Collins displayed bravery with his announcement today and I have no objection to him or anyone else playing in the NBA,” Broussard wrote in the statement.
During an appearance on ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” on Monday, Broussard was commenting on news that Collins had become the first active male athlete in a major American sport to come out of the closet.
“Personally, I don’t believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an openly, like premarital sex between heterosexuals,” Broussard said. “If you’re openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits. It says that, you know, that’s a sin. If you’re openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, whatever it maybe, I believe that’s walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. So I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I don’t think the bible would characterize them as a Christian.”
Watch his appearance on “Outside The Lines” below. Read his full statement here.
