Steve Kerr on Trump’s Muslim Ban: “It’s a Horrible Idea”

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has become a go-to guy for a comment on Donald Trump’s presidential administration. A week ago, Kerr joked about his short playing career with the Orlando Magic by making an “alternative facts” reference. Another current event has hit even closer to home for Kerr, who was not in a joking mood about the travel restrictions Trump placed on seven countries with heavily Muslim populations.

Kerr’s father, Malcolm, was president of the American University of Beirut in 1984 when he was assassinated during Lebanon’s civil war. While the gunmen were never found, a group calling itself Islamic Holy War claimed responsibility in the press. Whoever killed Malcolm Kerr were terrorists, and yet his son doesn’t agree with Trump’s tactics:

“As someone whose family member was a victim of terrorism, having lost my father, if we’re trying to combat terrorism by banishing people from coming to this country, by really going against what supposedly our country’s about and creating fear, it’s the wrong way to go about it. If anything, we could be breeding anger and terror, so I’m completely against what’s happening. I think it’s shocking. It’s a horrible idea, and I really I feel for all the people who are affected. Families are being torn apart, and I worry in the big picture what this means to the security of the world. It’s going about it completely opposite. You want to solve terror, you want to solve crime, this is not the way to do it.”

Kerr was playing for Arizona at the time of his father’s death and, unbelievably, was taunted about it more than once, notably by a group of Arizona State students before a game in 1988. A lot of times, a pro athlete or other famous person will give his or her two cents about world events and we’ll wonder afterward why we bothered listening. Unlike most people who vent, Steve Kerr has skin in the game and his opinion is relevant no matter your opinion on Trump’s executive order.