LaMelo Ball says he does not change diapers during ESPN interview; columnist criticises remark
LaMelo Ball told an ESPN interviewer on Wednesday that he does not change diapers, saying “Nah, my girl do all that,” during an exchange with sportscaster Ernie Johnson Jr, and the remark has drawn criticism in a column by Arwa Mahdawi. Ball has a nine-month-old son, LaOne, with his partner Ana Montana (real name: Analicia Chaves).
Ball is identified in the column as the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard and the piece notes his five-year contract extension worth up to $260m in 2023 when discussing the expectation that parenting is not affected by earnings. The exchange took place on ESPN, where Johnson asked Ball, “You’re a dad now,” and “Are you a diaper changer?” and Johnson, “to his credit, seemed disappointed by this answer.”
Mahdawi reproduces Ball’s responses from the interview, including: “Nah, my girl do all that,” and “We got a good gameplan going on. So I know what I gotta do, bring to the table, she know what she gotta do, bring to the table.” The column further quotes Ball: “I did it before, you feel me? I’ve definitely did it before, [but] it’s just not my job,” and “You know what I’m saying? It’s not my job.”
The columnist asserts, in her own words, “Well, actually, excuse me while I mumsplain here, but it very much is your job,” and writes that parenting is a 24/7 commitment independent of a parent’s salary. She acknowledges that families may divide domestic duties as they choose and that professional athletes can have different schedules, while criticising public boasting about not changing diapers as out of date.
Mahdawi cites research and survey figures to chart changing paternal involvement: a 1982 study of fathers in Britain found 43% had never changed a nappy and by 2000 that figure had dropped to 3%. She adds that the average time US dads spend caring for their offspring daily has quadrupled over the past 50 years and that about 85% of dads say parenthood is one of the most important aspects of their identity.
The column raises the point that fathers are still judged by different standards from mothers and says a female athlete claiming she would not change diapers would face intense criticism. Mahdawi invokes comments by Donald Trump, quoting him: “I would never ask to change [Barron],” the president told the New York Post in 2006, and, “Melania probably wouldn’t let me. I’d just do it wrong.” She reports that when asked whether he’d changed the diapers of his four other children, he “said he probably had, but couldn’t remember.”
Mahdawi uses the phrase “weaponized (or strategic) incompetence” to describe the tactic of pretending unable to do basic domestic chores, then writes, “In Trump’s case, however, it may not actually be weaponized incompetence. It may just be incompetence.”
The columnist concludes with a proposal and a hope: “In the future, we should apply the Diaper Test™ to any man in the running for a high-powered job. If he can’t clean up his own child’s mess, he’s sure to make a mess of the job.” She adds, “I hope the backlash to his comments makes him realize that only complete losers boast about not changing diapers.”