Black Woman Claims JJ Redick Called Her The N-Word In College, 20 Years Ago With No Proof
The Los Angeles Lakers officially introduced JJ Redick as their new head coach.
The hiring has been met with criticism, mostly from black media members who say Redick skipped the line over veteran black coaches. But the hysteria around Redick took an unexpected turn Tuesday.
Halleemah Nash is the founder of Rosecrans Ventures, a talent solutions firm for "underrepresented talents." According to the company website, the brand "focuses on building a resilient workforce that can adapt to changing business models while creating a culture of embracing true diversity, inclusion, and equity in a more thoughtful and connected way."
Nash claims to have had a prior run-in with the new Lakers coach, during his days in college at Duke University. She says during that meeting, Redick called her the "N-word" to her face.
"I’ve only been called the N word to my face by a white man once in my life and it was on the campus of Duke University while I was doing work with the basketball team. And today he was named the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. What a world," she posted on X.
Her post has over 18,000 reposts and 8.7 million impressions, as of publication. As a result, some bitter rabble-rouser like Stephen A. Smith or Elle Duncan will presumably call for Redick's job by the end of the week.
OutKick, on the other hand, has questions:
Redick graduated from Duke in 2006. He was one of the most discussed players in college basketball during his four-year playing career. He has been a public figure for over 20 years – from Duke to the NBA to ESPN, generating headlines at each stop.
Yet, Nash just now decided to tell the internet Redick called her the N-word to her face. Did he also shout, "This is MAGA country"?
Based on available X data, she had never even posted about Redick until Tuesday.
OutKick tried to contact Nash, but her contract information is private. We hope she reaches out following this article to provide more details about her accusation against Redick, at robert.burack@outkick.com.
On the surface, her story holds no weight. Unless there are several independent witnesses without a racial bias, there is virtually no scenario in which either side can prove the truth.
Further, her accusations are not as career-threatening as her followers pretend. If Redick called a black woman the N-word in college, he was in the wrong -- but such an incident would say little about his character 20 years later.
Note: there is no history of Redick using the slur. If there were, you'd know about it. He spent 15 years in the NBA with mostly black teammates and opponents.
In fact, the only racially charged comments emanating from Redick's playing career are stories about black players calling him a "bitch ass white boy."
Finally, it would seem Halleemah Nash, not Redick, is the one who is fixated on the skin colors of others:
Nash's post reads like an upset fan who dug up old tweets from an NFL draftee to show he said something inappropriate as a teen – except, in this case, there's no proof.
Update: Redick's camp released the following statement to TMZ regarding Nash's post:
"No, it never happened."