Carmelo Anthony appeared on Thursday night’s edition of "The Daily Show," where host Trevor Noah turned the conversation to the star basketball player’s social activism. Anthony said he decided to make his voice heard after violence affected his hometown of Baltimore.
Referring to this year’s ESPY Awards show, when Anthony, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade made a plea for peace, Noah asked his guest, "You guys stood together and you took a stand, and that's a scary place to be. And as a sportsman, you stood up and said, 'Hey, with regards to violence, with regards to police shootings, with regards to everything that's going in this country, we can do more.’ Why would you do that?"
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Anthony said the ESPYs provided a platform for himself and his cohorts.
"I had no intention of going to the ESPYs at all, and then a couple of guys called me and texted me and said, 'Listen, this is a platform where we can really have our voices be heard and really send a message and try to create some awareness of what's going on,'" he said.
Noah wondered if Anthony had second thoughts that taking such a stand could jeopardize his earnings.
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"You didn't come from a wealthy background, you didn't come from a world where you had anything," Noah said. "You're in a space where you've done really well for yourself. You have money, you have opportunities. You know that you can keep quiet and play basketball. I mean it's gone well now, and people understand that this is a movement that needs to be supported. But isn’t there a split second where you as Carmelo go, 'Oh man, the endorsements could be gone, the fans could be gone.' Isn’t there a bit of fear?”
Anthony responded, "There are so many tragedies and things that have happened throughout our country over the past couple of years. I can't speak on everything that's going on, but it's not until something really happens to you in your backyard. In this case it was the Freddie Gray situation in Baltimore, where I was like, 'Okay, enough is enough.’
"This has really affected me because it’s in my backyard. I know these people, I know the families, I know the communities, so I wanted to get back there as soon as possible and really feel what the pressure was like after the riots and feel that tension and what was going on back there. And I’ll tell you what, I would never wish that on anybody."
"You're an inspiration to many people, what you're doing, the way you're putting yourself out there," Noah concluded. "As someone who's been lucky enough to call New York my home, I'm a big supporter of what you do."
Watch the full interview here: