Kevin Durant while at a basketball clinic in India. AP FILE PHOTO
SAN FRANCISCO— Basketball star Kevin Durant has issued a half-hearted apology for calling India “20 years behind” and several other comments about the Asian country.
The Golden State Warriors forward tweeted on Friday that he’s “sorry that my comments about India were taken out of context.”
Durant said he plans to return to India to run more basketball camps and meant no disrespect.
BACKSTORY: Kevin Durant arrives in India as NBA tries to grow game
Durant traveled to India recently and spoke about the trip in an interview with The Athletic website published this week.
In the interview, Durant marveled at the “cows in the street, monkeys running around everywhere, hundreds of people on the side of the road” and visible poverty.
“It’s a country that’s 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience,” he said, adding that his visit to the Taj Mahal was eye-opening and not what he’d imagined.
He’d expected the monument to be “holy ground, super protected, very, very clean,” but instead as he drove up it reminded him of places where he grew up, he said.
“Mud in the middle of the street, houses were not finished but there were people living in them. No doors. No windows… stray dogs and then, boom, Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world.”
Kevin Durant posts this apology on his Twitter account.