Basketball star says 5% of NBA players are gay (9868)

Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady is quoted in the November issue of Stuff magazine as saying that he believes 5% of NBA players are gay. McGrady said he has witnessed incidents of homosexual behavior in the league. McGrady made his comments to magazine writer Bill Schulz during a question-and-answer session in July at McGrady's mansion in the Isleworth neighborhood of Orlando, Fla. "Here's a pertinent question: How many homosexuals are currently playing in the NBA?" Schulz asked. "I think about 5%," McGrady answered. Schulz then said, "Wow. That's a huge amount for such a macho profession. Have you observed any specific incidents that allow you to make that statement?" "Yeah," McGrady said, without expanding on his answer.

Schulz said his Q&A with McGrady appears in the November issue, but a few excerpts from the interview appeared in Friday's New York Post. Post gossip columnist Richard Johnson ran the excerpts of McGrady's interview under the headline "95 Percent Straight." Schulz said the tenor of his magazine's interviews is designed to be jaunty, daring, and funny. "That's pretty much par for the course. We get a lot of stuff out of them by asking funny, dorky questions. It ain't Newsweek," Schulz said. "It's a sister publication of Maxim. I tried to have fun with it. The guy [McGrady] was expressionless after I asked him something, or he was two seconds away from hitting me. I couldn't tell. I'm hoping Tracy takes it with a sense of humor."