The Chicago Bulls have waived guard Jaden Ivey for “conduct detrimental to the team” after he posted a lengthy social media video rant expressing anti-gay sentiments, including opposition to Pride Month.
The Bulls acquired the 24-year-old Purdue alum, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, from the Detroit Pistons before last month’s trade deadline. He averaged 15.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists across 151 of 164 games to start his career, but knee issues limited him to 30 games last season and sidelined him for the first 15 games this year.
Ivey appeared in only four games for the Bulls this season and last played on February 11, before the All-Star break. On February 19, Ivey did not play in the Bulls’ game against the Toronto Raptors because of a coach’s decision — the first time he had been a “healthy scratch” in his career. After the game that night, he told reporters, “I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
Ivey had been outspoken about his religious beliefs while playing for the Pistons, but the intensity reportedly increased in Chicago, with team staff describing him as “preachy” in the locker room.
The team announced March 26 that Ivey would be shut down for the season with a sore left knee.
In the days that followed, Ivey went live on Instagram multiple times, posting at least three lengthy videos.
In a Monday morning Instagram video, Ivey called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, claiming it celebrates “unrighteousness.”
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right?” Ivey said. “They proclaim Pride Month and the NBA does, too. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it on the streets. Unrighteousness.”
Soon after, the Bulls posted a brief statement on social media announcing that Ivey was being waived.
In another livestream Monday evening, Ivey took issue with the team’s decision.
“[The Bulls] said my conduct is detrimental to the team,” he said. “Why didn’t they just say, ‘We don’t agree with his stance on LGBTQ’? Why didn’t they say that? … How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players?”
Ivey also attacked high-profile Christian athletes like Stephen Curry for declining to oppose NBA directives he claims conflict with their religious beliefs, and took aim at LeBron James and Michael Jordan, saying their championship rings are “not gonna matter on judgment day.”
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before the team’s March 30 game against the San Antonio Spurs that the organization had hoped Ivey would be part of its long-term future. Because he did not reach a contract extension with Detroit last summer, he will enter free agency this offseason.
“There’s a certain level of expectations and standards that are here,” Donovan told reporters. “Everybody comes with their own personal experiences, right? But we have to all be professional, there has to be a high level of respect for one another, and we’ve got to help each other and be accountable to those standards.”
Donovan later added: “I don’t want to get into what [Ivey] put out there, but certainly, I hope for him he’s okay. I’ve had conversations with Jaden, and he’s always been about rehabbing his knee and trying to get on the court and wanting to play. But I think organizationally, there are certain standards we want to have as an organization and try to live up to those each and every day.”
The Centaur Motorcycle Club is donating $160,000 to LGBTQ organizations from proceeds raised during January’s Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend.
Gary Samuels, president of the D.C-based leather organization, said the fundraising success is a "testament to the generosity, dedication, and spirit of our members, volunteers, and the broader community who come together each year in support of a greater purpose."
Each year, Centaur MC donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to national and local charities, many serving the LGBTQ community, as part of its broader mission.
A Minnesota teacher withdrew from consideration for the 2026 Teacher of the Year award after a right-wing news site circulated photos of him in leather bondage gear.
The right-wing publication Alpha News Minnesota published a story on April 13 revealing online images of Thomas Rosengren, a sixth-grade teacher and theater educator for the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School District.
The images, taken during the 2019 "Mr. Minneapolis Eagle" contest and described by Alpha News as publicly available, show Rosengren in a cowboy hat, buttoned shirt, and jeans holding a sign reading: "It's feeding time on the farm. Cowboy Tommy is feeding the six piglets & bull."
The city has installed the rainbow flagpole wraps and adorned its windows with Pride-themed signs and stickers in an effort to defy the spirit of the state's flag restrictions.
The city of Boise has installed rainbow-colored wraps on flagpoles at City Hall in a show of defiance toward Republican state lawmakers who recently banned localities from flying non-approved flags, including the Pride flag.
The wraps were placed in the outdoor plaza to signal that the city is LGBTQ-affirming while still complying with the flag ban. City officials also hung a large sign with rainbow stripes and the words "Creating a city for everyone" in one City Hall window, and decorated other windows with rainbow-colored, heart-shaped stickers reading "A city for everyone means for everyone."
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The Chicago Bulls have waived guard Jaden Ivey for “conduct detrimental to the team” after he posted a lengthy social media video rant expressing anti-gay sentiments, including opposition to Pride Month.
The Bulls acquired the 24-year-old Purdue alum, the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, from the Detroit Pistons before last month’s trade deadline. He averaged 15.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.5 assists across 151 of 164 games to start his career, but knee issues limited him to 30 games last season and sidelined him for the first 15 games this year.
Ivey appeared in only four games for the Bulls this season and last played on February 11, before the All-Star break. On February 19, Ivey did not play in the Bulls’ game against the Toronto Raptors because of a coach’s decision — the first time he had been a “healthy scratch” in his career. After the game that night, he told reporters, “I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
Ivey had been outspoken about his religious beliefs while playing for the Pistons, but the intensity reportedly increased in Chicago, with team staff describing him as “preachy” in the locker room.
The team announced March 26 that Ivey would be shut down for the season with a sore left knee.
In the days that followed, Ivey went live on Instagram multiple times, posting at least three lengthy videos.
In a Monday morning Instagram video, Ivey called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, claiming it celebrates “unrighteousness.”
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right?” Ivey said. “They proclaim Pride Month and the NBA does, too. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it on the streets. Unrighteousness.”
Soon after, the Bulls posted a brief statement on social media announcing that Ivey was being waived.
In another livestream Monday evening, Ivey took issue with the team’s decision.
“[The Bulls] said my conduct is detrimental to the team,” he said. “Why didn’t they just say, ‘We don’t agree with his stance on LGBTQ’? Why didn’t they say that? … How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players?”
Ivey also attacked high-profile Christian athletes like Stephen Curry for declining to oppose NBA directives he claims conflict with their religious beliefs, and took aim at LeBron James and Michael Jordan, saying their championship rings are “not gonna matter on judgment day.”
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before the team’s March 30 game against the San Antonio Spurs that the organization had hoped Ivey would be part of its long-term future. Because he did not reach a contract extension with Detroit last summer, he will enter free agency this offseason.
“There’s a certain level of expectations and standards that are here,” Donovan told reporters. “Everybody comes with their own personal experiences, right? But we have to all be professional, there has to be a high level of respect for one another, and we’ve got to help each other and be accountable to those standards.”
Donovan later added: “I don’t want to get into what [Ivey] put out there, but certainly, I hope for him he’s okay. I’ve had conversations with Jaden, and he’s always been about rehabbing his knee and trying to get on the court and wanting to play. But I think organizationally, there are certain standards we want to have as an organization and try to live up to those each and every day.”