“Anytime Ayesha Curry shows up in your headline, I kindly suggest you just give the happy hands, the congratulations,” Steph Curry said in his November 11 Instagram post. He made it abundantly clear how he felt about former NBA players Gilbert Arenas and Nick Young, and ex-NFL stars Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy, for their comments about his wife, Ayesha Curry’s acting role on their respective ‘We Said What We Said’ and ‘Speakeasy’ podcasts.

Acho, who felt chastised, admitted that the jokes were poor in taste. After Curry demanded an apology, the former football player wasted no time, expressing his remorse on X and taking accountability for any public or personal issues that his comments may have caused.

“If a man humbly comes to you and requests an apology, then you would be ignorant and you would be arrogant to respond with anything else than, ‘I’m sorry.’ Steph, I’m sorry not just for offending you, potentially offending your wife. I’m sorry for how that may have made you feel, seeing headlines, commentary, all these other things about your wife. I’m sorry for the reaction that it may have caused internally, viscerally, amongst you, the central nervous system, how it may have set that off.

I’m also sorry for any sort of tiff or rift that it may have caused behind the scenes. I am sorry for that. Not ‘My bad.’ Not ‘That’s on me.’ Not, ‘Hey, you know what I mean?’ None of that. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. So let me preface with that. You are a legend. So if a man humbly comes to you peacefully. Amicably suggesting, hey, let me get an apology. That’s on me. Let this apology stand as loud as the perceived disrespect, and at minimum, the commentary on Steph Curry and his wife.”

Curry’s sharp response and demand for an apology came after the hosts of the Speakeasy podcast reacted to a trailer of Ayesha Curry’s first lead role in a rom-com movie on Roku, titled ‘Second Chance Holiday’. Since the movie included a scene that showed Ayesha kissing the male lead, the discussion shifted to whether they would want their wife to act in a movie where she was romantically involved or had to kiss another man on screen.

Acho pointed out that he understood why the optics of it did not favor Curry and made the NBA star an object of ridicule. They then went on to discuss other stunts that Curry’s wife had pulled in the past, including jokingly pretending to take off her wedding ring when a muscular, shirtless waiter walked onto the stage on ‘The Real’ daytime talk show three years ago.

They pointed out that she had also made comments in the past suggesting that she wanted more attention and wasn’t satisfied despite Curry being a devoted, faithful husband. They felt that by starring in a Christmas romance, she was furthering the same narrative, and noted that it was disrespectful to Curry.

Former NFL safety T. J. Ward went as far as to say that the only scenario where he would find it acceptable was if his partner was an actor before they met, rather than picking it up later in life as Ayesha had done.

The basketball legend was likely especially offended since former NBA players Nick Young and Gilbert Arenas also contributed to a similar conversation, making similar comments about Ayesha on their own podcast.

Clearly, Curry found the take disrespectful, not just to his wife, but to women in general. He admitted that while he usually preferred not to react to such provocations, he couldn’t help but speak out after the comments had exploded on the internet and disturbed his wife. In his criticism, the NBA legend pointed out that the commentary revealed the misogynistic expectations the athletes held towards women regarding their careers.

“It kind of speaks to a bigger conversation about how you view women in this world and what they’re all allowed and not allowed to do.”

After Curry called out Young and Arenas directly, Arenas initially maintained that their comments were not meant to be disrespectful towards Ayesha but rather explored why she was being criticized. However, both ex-NBA stars eventually apologized for the remarks and promised to address the issue properly in a later episode of their show.