Jessica Halloran: Andrew Bogut on immigration, gay marriage and Thomas the Tank Engine
SYDNEY Kings star basketballer Andrew Bogut says he’s not an alt-right warrior, just an opinionated baller who won’t lie to suit his many critics, Jessica Halloran discovers.
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ANDREW Bogut has been called a “bigot”, labelled “alt-right” and condemned as a “Nazi”.
The basketball great says he is not some white supremacist and you only have to dig a little to understand how his Croatian heritage deeply influenced his thinking.
“They label me alt-right but if they go to Wikipedia they will see I am the son of immigrants who grew up in Australia,” Bogut said.
“Looking back, we were left leaning, probably closer to being a social justice warrior family. You can’t see exactly what ethnicity I am, I am not black, I am not Asian, but I grew up being called a f---ing wog every day at school.
“I was in fights because of it.”
As his mechanic dad and mother toiled long hours making and delivering calibrators, Bogut was being mercilessly bullied at school in the rough suburb of Endeavour Hills in south-east Melbourne.
Every day he was called a “lanky c—t” and “a wog”, and by the end of school he just about felt like he’d fought everyone in the playground.
“Back then I was victim, I was oppressed,” he said.
The 33-year-old says his childhood struggle is a story his howling critics often have no idea about or fail to acknowledge.
“But because I am a millionaire and a basketballer my story doesn’t count,” Bogut said.
“It’s like, everything that happened to you, we don’t want to hear about, that’s the hypocrisy of it all, if you are not on our side, then your story doesn’t count.”
He overcame this tough upbringing to build a 13-season NBA career, winning a championship and earning about $160 million along the way.
Now he has joined the Sydney Kings to support the game here.
These days rather than brawling in the schoolyard he’s taken to the Twitter “cesspit” where he stands up for his beliefs and delivers his opinions with brutal honesty.
“I am not right about everything but I am going to answer the question and look you in the eye,” Bogut said.
“You might have a different opinion, but I am not going to hate you, it’s fine.”
Bogut is the most candid pro athlete I’ve ever interviewed in 20 years.
When we get talking about role models he unequivocally says he wouldn’t want his children to idolise a sports star.
“Athletes and celebrities are so full of shit,” Bogut said.
“Most of them that I meet are hypocrites.”
Bogut recounts seeing numerous athletes promoting “feel good” causes, while still engaging freely in all the things they claim to be so publicly against.
“I can tell you first hand the stuff they espouse to journalists and the public and all these causes, I have been around these people behind closed doors, that is not what they preach behind closed doors,” he said.
“I’d rather be an arsehole than a hypocrite.
“Any day of the week, I would rather give my opinion on something, even if it is not politically correct than be a hypocrite. I don’t want to go to my grave a hypocrite.”
He’s unafraid to answer any question.
Today, when asked, he freely dishes up his thoughts on gender diversity, plastic bag bans, immigration, abortion, gay marriage, parenting, even Thomas the Tank Engine’s new multicultural look. All the issues that get people going.
For the record, he’s not anti-abortion or immigration or gay marriage, which wipes him from the “alt-right” box that contains white supremacists, Holocaust deniers and other extreme hate groups.
But, if he is not alt right, what is he?
“I refuse to be grouped,” Bogut said.
“I have issues with stuff on the left and I have issues with stuff on the right. I have positives and negatives on both.”
“You are not going to pigeon hole me. I don’t believe a politician is going to fix things for me and my family or for anyone else’s family. I think both sides are full of shit. I think they say what’s right to get them elected.”
On the day, we meet at the Kings headquarters Colin Kaepernick emerges in a Nike ad with the tag line; “believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything”.
Bogut says the NFL star should have done it at the height of his career.
“He has every right to protest if he thinks it is going to achieve something for his cause, but I also agree that he should then be criticised by people who disagree with him,” he said.
“I think the cause is good — you want police to stop doing stupid shit in America — there are some aggressive police officers.”
FAMILY LIFE
HIS wife Jessica recently had their second baby and Bogut has relished his role as a dad. He reveals his quite traditional life philosophy has been heavily influenced by Canadian academic Jordan Peterson.
Peterson has been described as one of the most controversial public intellectuals of our time. He puts the onus on men to toughen up and talks about the dangers of a neo-Marxist political correctness.
Two million people, including Bogut, have bought his “awesome” book ‘12 Rules For Life’. He also attended a Peterson seminar in LA.
When I ask if he likes Peterson, Bogut replies; “I love him”.
“His whole thing is personal responsibility and he is labelled alt right,” Bogut said.
“He has blatantly said I am not alt-right, do not label me alt-right, because he is all about personal responsibility, I don’t honour your victimhood, you can do something about it.”
He subscribes to Peterson’s approach on raising children, which stresses the importance of the first four years of their life and a two-parent household.
Bogut believes modern parenting these days can be “despicable”.
On Twitter last week, he ripped a set of parents on 60 Minutes who allowed their child to become horribly addicted to computer games. Bogut believes that there’s a “cotton wool” generation of parenting.
“I think it’s a direct correlation to where society is today,” Bogut said.
“Everyone gets hurt by the smallest of things. Everybody is a victim. It’s someone else’s fault. If you want to complain, go over to Africa, go over to the Balkans, they are literally living cheque to cheque.”
Bogut says the “chip on his shoulder” has gone.
“I thought I was a victim, because whenever something went wrong I would think; ‘it’s because I am a wog,” Bogut said, although admits there were time he and his family were racially discriminated.
“But now I believe in, yes something bad happened to you, that will be addressed, but build yourself moving forward, if you look back at anything, you are continuously going to have issues with your life.”
The beauty of Bogut is that he is open-minded. He welcomes debate and his view can be swayed.
We debate the supermarket “plastic bag” ban, I point out there are 500 billion single-use plastic bags produced, that there’s trillion of plastics bits floating in the ocean, and by the end of the conversation I may have convinced him to take his own bags to the supermarket.
Still, he notes; “If you are going to get rid of the plastic bags, don’t sell the f---ing shit.”
Couldn’t agree more.
“If someone gives you more information or better information that is useful, constructive feedback you can research and read, I am generally for that,” Bogut said.
“But I have no apologies for being opinionated.”