Ja Morant Takes “Full Accountability” For Second Gun Incident In New Statement

Ja Morant has made his first public statement since being suspended this past weekend for flashing a gun on Instagram.

“I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me,” the Memphis Grizzlies point guard wrote on Tuesday evening (May 16). “This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”

The statement came just hours after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discussed the matter during ESPN’s NBA Draft Lottery Show and sounded highly disappointed. “Honestly, I was shocked when I saw this weekend that video,” Silver told Malika Andrews. “Now, we’re in the process of investigating it, and we’ll figure out exactly what happened to the best we can. The video is a bit grainy and all that, but I’m assuming the worst.”

Many people are doubting the sincerity and validity of Ja Morant’s apology, especially given the timing of it coming so soon after Adam Silver made a public statement. Some Twitter users have gone so far as to speculate that the two-time All-Star utilized ChatGPT, an AI-generated chatbot, to quickly come up with an apology. Even Shannon Sharpe, the outspoken host of FS1’s Undisputed believes that Morant used the service.

“Skip, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of ChatGPT,” the retired NFL player said. “But they’ve explained it to me, you can say ‘Write me a little letter to Ernestine’ and guess what, Skip? You’ve got it. ‘Skip, you did this?!’ But see, you can pass it off because you were an English major.”

He continued, questioning the authenticity of the statement coming from Ja’s voice. “Even when people give you statements, some of the wording needs to be in some things you would say, it can’t be all by a PR team or people are going to say ‘That’s disingenuous,'” Sharpe continued. “And because Ja doesn’t talk like this, everybody is looking like ‘Well, huh?'”

Ja Morant was suspended on Sunday (May 14) after footage surfaced of the 2020 Rookie Of The Year showing off a gun on his friend’s Instagram Live while they were in the car together. This comes just a little over two months after his first gun incident, where he showed off a gun on his own Instagram Live while in a club in Colorado, and served a suspension as a result.

More from VIBE.com

• Charles Barkley Rips "Idiots" Defending Ja Morant In Emotional Rant

• Stephen Jackson Calls Ja Morant A "Moron" For Flashing Gun On Instagram

• BlocBoy JB Defends Controversial Ja Morant Video: "Guns Are Not Illegal"

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