Gil’s Arena can get swarmed in tense moments and confrontations. However, Kenyon Martin’s latest off-script moment was a real-life trial of sorts. The former Nets forward called one of the production members on the set for disrespecting his speech impediment. Martin didn’t try to attack or respond with bitterness. Instead, he turned it into a learning moment.

Kenyon Martin played a video of the person, whom he called Suge, calling him “stutter man”. In general, Martin’s been on record talking about how dealing with a speech impediment shaped his career. However, what hurt him is the fact that somebody he trusted went out of their way to disrespect him.

“This is what disloyalty and people who don’t respect you look like. People like him. Be careful who you invite into your home. Who you have around your loved ones and your friends and family. This is what you get. People like this. That talk about something that is near and dear to my heart,” he said on Gil’s Arena.

The segment was cut out of the podcast’s live stream. However, with such a large following, clips made the rounds on various social media platforms. And Kenyon Martin said the right things. This wasn’t about any random person disrespecting an innate condition. Martin expressed he “had this person around my wife, my kids”.

That’s what really got to him. Because Kenyon Martin hasn’t hidden the fact that he suffers from a stutter. It comes attached with a troubled past caused by his condition. For somebody close to use that as even humor isn’t right. The production member knew how Martin felt about it. Yet, in a moment that was supposed to get praise for the Nets forward, he put him down.

There’s no coming back from that.

Kenyon Martin will not accept an apology

Suge, the person responsible for making these comments, tried to reason with Kenyon Martin. He recalled trying to apologise for the situation. Martin defused that argument by stating he ‘shrugged him off’ because he felt it may not have been something as insensitive. They never directly watched the video or spoke about it.

Kenyon Martin found out after the video was sent to him by someone else. This happened two weeks ago. Hence, he made it clear. Martin is done with Suge, and the last thing he wants is an apology.

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“I drew a line in the sand a long time ago with this. There is no apology ever that as an adult that I would accept for this. I came in here one day over at Gil’s house and you walked up to me and tried to apologize out the blue. I blew you off because I didn’t know what you were talking about,” he added.

Many felt a certain type of way about Martin choosing to address the issue during the stream. However, since the disrespect was public, the former number one pick decided to respond with the same “energy”. His point in doing so was to take a stand for those who suffer like him, but don’t have the same platform to make their voice heard.

You can have thoughts about him dealing with the situation. But when it’s something as personal, there’s no right or wrong. Kenyon Martin didn’t expect somebody close to him to ever demean his condition. Once that line was crossed, he didn’t even want to see Suge anymore.

Can’t blame him for having such a strong stance in this situation.