Jeremy Lin Responds to Kenyon Martin’s Dreadlocks Comments
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 25: Jeremy Lin #7 of the Brooklyn Nets poses for a portrait during Media Day at HSS Training Center on September 25, 2017 in the Brooklyn Borough of New York. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Former Brooklyn Nets forward Kenyon Martin criticizes Jeremy Lin‘s dreadlocks and Lin says he’s grateful that he did.

Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin has responded to former Nets forward Kenyon Martin’s comments about his hair, saying that he is grateful that Martin made the remarks that he made.

Martin took issue with Lin’s dreadlocks, saying that he shouldn’t wear his hair that way because he is Asian-American. The former Net also said that Lin wearing dreadlocks means that he wants to be black.

“Do I need to remind this damn boy his last name is Lin?” the former Net said in a video on his Instagram channel. “Like, come on man. Let’s stop it with these people. There is no way possible that he would have made it on one of our teams with that bulls— on his head. Come on man, somebody need to tell him, like, ‘Alright bro, we get it. You wanna be black.’ Like, we get it. But your last name is Lin.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ1jfeDB-xp/

The Nets guard responded on Instagram saying that he’s not mad at Martin and that he’s glad that he made the comments that he did.

“Hey man, it’s all good. You definitely don’t have to like my hair and (are) definitely entitled to your opinion,” he said. Actually I (am) legit grateful (for) you sharin it (to be honest). At the end of the day, I appreciate that I have dreads and you have Chinese tattoos (because) I think its a sign of respect. And I think as minorities, the more that we appreciate each other’s cultures, the more we influence mainstream society. Thanks for everything you did for the Nets and hoops … had your poster up on my wall growin up.”

So why do people talk about Lin’s hair every time he changes his ‘do? Lin doesn’t have the answer to that question.

“I never thought I’d ever think so much about hair,” he wrote in an article for the Player’s Tribune. “Honestly, at first I was surprised anyone would care what I did with my hair. When I started growing it out a few years ago in Charlotte, it was just something I was doing with six of my family members and friends. It was meant to be fun and to be an expression of freedom. I didn’t really plan for it to be anything more than that.”

The question now is what will Lin do with his hair next? And will Kenyon Martin have something to say about it?

I graduated from Marist College with a Bachelors in Sports Communications in 2011. I am a huge sports fan. I also write articles for TheCelebrityCafe.com.