Disgraced white former NBA player implies that Clarence Thomas is not authentically black because Thomas never came to one of his games

In a series of tweets, disgraced former NBA player Rex Chapman implied Thursday that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is not authentically black because he did not ever see Thomas in attendance at one of his basketball games.

After criticizing Thomas for attending a graduation event at Christendom College in 2018 at which there was "not another person of color" in the picture, Chapman asserted that Thomas "would not last 20-30 seconds in an NBA locker room." He specifically contrasted Thomas to former President Bill Clinton, who was white, but who "used to come to our games in Landover with the Bullets. Clarence Thomas - never." Chapman mused, "Why have you never seen Clarence Thomas at an NBA game? As in — ever?"

Chapman went on to double down, replying to another user's comment with a video from "The Chappelle Show" featuring well-known character Clayton Bigsby, in which Chappelle, for comedic effect, plays a blind black person who apparently does not realize he is black and is a white supremacist.

Chapman, who was selected with the 8th overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft, played for several years in the NBA. During the seasons he played for the Washington Bullets, the Bullets were one of the worst teams in the league, racking up a combined putrid record of 45-119. Following his playing career, Chapman was offered numerous jobs in television broadcasting and for NBA teams, in spite of his well-publicized struggles with drug addiction, which included multiple trips to rehab and a highly publicized arrest for shoplifting.

After allegedly cleaning up his life, Chapman built a large following on Twitter by reposting content generated by others, frequently without attribution. Chapman also frequently peddles discredited hoaxes and misinformation on his Twitter account, which has over one million followers. In spite of his well-documented struggles with the truth — or perhaps because of them — Chapman was hired by CNN in January 2022 as a host for its now-defunct CNN+ streaming service.

Bizarrely, Chapman responded to criticism of his overtly racist criticism of Clarence Thomas by suggesting that the people who are criticizing him are somehow racist.