Just in case you were under the impression that Tim Hardaway, the NBA vet who famously said "I hate gay people ... I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States" had either miraculously become a tolerant individual or had been sent into orbit, here's a story about how the boastful bigot recently attended an NBA pre-draft event.

The reporter is quick to point out that Hardaway was listed as only a "Guest" and that no one seems to be forgetting Hardaway's words or his notable lack of an apology following the controversy. But it is interesting to see that he's trying to make inroads back into the organization that banished him from sanctioned events following his comments, and that the NBA allowed him access at all.

When asked at the event about his comments from four months back, the ever-keen Hardaway replied,

"It was just a comment, that's what it was to me. It's over with. I don't think about it ... Let bygones be bygones. A lot of people are putting their foot in their mouths."

Translation:

"I said hateful things about an entire population, and I still hate them. And although it surely must affect them to be insulted in such an offhand manner, it doesn't affect me in the least. In fact, once words leave my mouth they cease to exist. Just watch -- there! See? Now let's forget any of this ever happened. Please give me a job."

Apologizing for hateful comments and resuming one's life is one thing. Not apologizing and trying to pretend that nothing ever happened is another, and let's hope that Hardaway's old colleagues don't let him off so easy.

To remind us that even the stupidest of public relations moves can have unexpectedly amusing fallout, check out George Takei's response to the Hardaway deal (aired on Jimmy Kimmel) after the break.