In the last couple of months we have had two celebrities publicly comment about gay folk.

In the one instance, much was made of Isaiah Washington’s comment about T.R. Knight, his co-star on Grey’s Anatomy, being "a faggot." Washington, obviously not missing an opportunity for even more publicity, went public with his apology (good thing). He made a big deal about going into "sensitivity training" and about how he could no longer deny to himself he had "issues."

"I obviously need to examine [those issues] within my own soul, and I’ve asked for help," he said.

Maybe it’s just me, but the going-into-therapy schtick came off as...well...cynical and along the lines of some coke-addled celebrity going into rehab, with everyone remarking how brave and honest and wonderful that is. Is there rehab for bigots?

If Washington, who is African-American, was incapable of understanding "faggot" is analogous to the ‘N-word’ one has to wonder where he has been for the last couple of decades. Regardless of what one might feel about gay men, lesbians, bisexuals or transfolk – and one can believe whatever one wants – to actually publicly state such sentiments is beyond the pale.

Almost immediately following Washington’s comments and his public display of whatever it was he thought he was displaying (I seriously doubt it was shame; a lifetime of bigotry and plain old-fashioned thoughtlessness is not so easily overcome), ex-NBA player, Tim Hardaway, in response to the recent coming out of former NBA star John Amaechi, stated he was homophobic. He said that he didn’t like gay people at all (hated us, in fact), and would not want a gay man on his team. Hardaway is also African-American.

In Washington’s case he let "faggot" slip out following a disagreement with T.R. Knight on the set and it probably would have passed relatively unnoticed except, one of his other co-stars spoke to the media about it at the Golden Globes Awards.

Of course, it shouldn’t have passed unnoticed any more than if T.R. Knight had tossed off the ‘N-word’ to Washington because he was pissed off at him, but we all know it probably would have if one of the cast members hadn’t made a big deal of it. The other bright light in this sordid little soap opera is that Patrick Dempsey, another actor on Grey’s Anatomy, confronted Washington on his homophobia resulting, so it’s been reported, in ‘fisticuffs’ between him and Washington.

In Hardaway’s case, however, the scenario was quite different.

While a guest on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket the host, Dan Le Batard, asked Hardaway how he would interact with a gay teammate. He was met with this response:

"First of all, I wouldn’t want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you

know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don’t think that is right. I don’t think he should be in the locker-room while we are in the locker-room."

When a shocked Le Batard pointed out the comments were ‘’flatly homophobic’’ and ‘’bigotry,’’ Hardaway kept right on going.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people," he said.

"I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It [homosexuality] shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States."

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Hardaway also said that if he did find out a teammate was gay, he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.

"Something has to give. If you have 12 other ball players in your locker-room that’s upset [sic] and can’t concentrate and always worried about him in the locker-room or on the court or whatever, it’s going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."

Lovely. And this is someone who is held up to youth as a person to emulate? Gimme a freakin’ break....

A few days later, Hardaway was banished by the NBA from an all-star weekend in Las Vegas and publicly denounced by NBA Commissioner, David Stern.

The NBA brings in many former players to take part in various all-star events during the Las Vegas weekend. Hardaway had already represented the league that week at a Habitat for Humanity event and a fitness promotion. He was also scheduled to be an assistant coach at a wheelchair game Thursday night and later appear at the fan-oriented Jam Session until Stern told him he was no longer welcome. Hardaway also lost a major endorsement.

Apparently such fall-out was enough to make Hardaway try and do some damage control. He spoke again to media from behind the gate of his multi-million dollar home (did anyone notice the bars of the gate were PINK?) saying how sorry he was that he said anything, how sorry he was for the pain he caused his family, teammates and fans, that he had had a really hard week, that he was stressed out and suffering from lack of sleep. Uh-huh. Notice he didn’t apologize for the bigotry he exhibited, just for exhibiting it. Nah, you’re just a garden variety bigot, pal. Go cry me a river....

What is it with these celebrities and their overwhelming sense of entitlement? What, they figure they can say whatever they want and everyone will just let it slide? Talk about hubris. If we don’t accept bigotry from the right wing why would we accept it from individuals who, we are told, are "role models"? Some actor on some TV show and some ex-basketball jock are role models? For who? And why?

If they actually did some good, like put their celebrity status and money to some use other than purchasing ostentatious mansions and more bling, then they would deserve to be called role models. These two are not role models for anything other than ignorance, and the maxim my mother used to use: "Lots of dollars but no sense (cents)." They’re punks.