Milwaukee, WI (LNL) -- Not long ago Murray Parris stood atop both the basketball and fashion worlds. A first round draft pick & recent league champion with style to die for, the sky seemed the limit.
Winning, elegance, fashion — the new season of Milwaukee Lethargy basketball was off to its usual start. But things came crashing down
hard late Sunday night. With Murray & fellow basketballers spiraling into a mental health crisis after the vicious and unkind words of a rival team owner. We won't reprint the comments here, but suffice to say they were ageist and racially charged.
Instead of suffering in silence Murray Parris has decided to get vulnerable and use his celebrity to help others. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
LNL: Murray, it's very brave of you to come forward like this. When learning of the comments our initial reactions were: #1 WTF, and #2 are you ok? What was going through your head?
Murray Parris: Sticks and stones may break one's bones, but your unkind words are what really hurt me. That's what I was thinking and really want to now verbalize.
LNL: It would've been easy to hide behind avant-garde sunglasses and say nothing.
MP: It would've been, yes.
LNL: So why didn't you?
MP: People think we're [the Lethargy] unfeeling, confident sportsballers. But we're actually not. Instead of training skills like jump shooting, we train sensitivity in addition to fashion, music, and art. We consider ourselves more as delicate fashionistas who happen to occasionally play sportsball.
LNL: And a lot of your fans...
MP: And a lot of our fans are the type to be easily hurt just like us. We're living in such a cruel coarsening western society these days. I wanted to let those who look up to us know that they aren't alone.
LNL: How will this impact the rest of the season?
MP: We've decided collectively to intentionally lose most of our remaining games in protest, and relocate to a new league next season.
LNL: The sky once seemed the limit for you.
MP: Now I'm just trying to push the sky away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzTCbaZj5HA---
2024 LNL (Lethargy News Ltd.)