NBA athletes have always been among the biggest celebrities in all of sports, but new Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. took that star status to different places this summer in a series of viral podcast appearances in the right-wing “manosphere.”
Porter frequently returned to his views on gender politics in these interviews, making viral headlines about OnlyFans, the WNBA, and marriage. It is no surprise that as Porter trudged into this territory, Andrew Tate, the godfather of this type of content, would eventually come up.
And during an appearance on One Night with Andrew Steinberg of the Nelk Boys, Porter referenced Tate by way of a supposed trick he plays on women he is dating:
“I’m not saying I’m a misogynist or anything, but I’ll throw on some Andrew Tate and see how they react,” he said.
While Porter’s previous remarks on the “females” in the WNBA or how it was “lame” and “weird” to pay for OnlyFans subscriptions also made news online, this one reached new heights. Tate, of course, is an accused sex trafficker who describes himself in the exact way that Porter made sure to sidestep in his statement: a misogynist.
In an appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast this week, Porter clarified this quote. While he did not pull back on the assertion that a woman’s reaction to hearing Tate’s commentary provides a great litmus test for her viability as his long-term romantic partner, Porter at least articulated that there are “a lot of things” that Tate says with which he does not agree.
“That’s the point. I might not even be agreeing with his takes, but sometimes I think it’s funny to see just how people react to certain things that are said,” Porter explained.
“There’s a lot of things he says that I don’t agree with, there’s a lot of things a lot of people say that I don’t agree with,” Porter contiuned. “But I think seeing people in different situations, seeing how they react, they also might say something crazy that I don’t agree with as well, so I think that’s the point I was trying to get across.”
By way of comparison, Porter added that he might also bring a girl around his church or his pastor to see how she acts in that situation as well. It’s his way, he says, of weeding out poseurs.
“Especially if you’re going to lock all the way in with somebody, you gotta know how they really are,” Porter said. “People are really good at putting on a facade, so I think that was kind of the point I was trying to get across, was trying to figure out people’s real views and who they really are.”
Given Porter’s support for traditional family values as well as his extensive criticism of pornography and sex work in these interviews, as well as his own on the Curious Mike podcast he hosts, the fact that the 2023 NBA champion would be a Tate fan did not come as a surprise. The more unusual part of Porter’s comments were the way he serves up Tate’s content as a chess move with lovers.
And while Porter underscored that he will never take back an opinion he shares publicly, he understands that the context of his remarks and his willingness to state them aloud is part of the problem.
“I think what gets me in trouble is I’ll have conversations that people think should be had in private or really just in your own mind, I’ll say that on a podcast,” he said.
Fortunately for Porter, his move to the New York media market comes with the Nets, who are hardly deserving of any attention amid another tanking season — no matter how far to the cultural fringe he goes from here.