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John Calipari got stuck in a weird conversation about the Confederate flag

John Calipari is no stranger to an outlandish question or two. When you’re the coach of the most high-profile college basketball team in the country, you have to be prepared to be asked about pretty much anything. It’s no surprise then that Calipari has a position on Confederate flags.

Okay, maybe it is a little bit surprising, considering Calipari is a basketball coach and was supposed to be answering questions about basketball, in theory. The tweets came following a conference call in which longtime Kentucky basketball reporter Jerry Tipton asked Calipari for his opinion on the display of the Confederate flag and statues of Confederate generals in southern states. Yes, it reads about as awkward as it sounds.

Transcript via Kentucky Sports Radio:

Calipari: “Really? Um, obviously it offends a portion of our society, so people are deciding to take them down. That’s how I feel.”

Tipton: “You would support taking them down?”

Calipari: “Sure. They offend, and I would say do it. But, again, does our state use the Confederate flag, Jerry?”

Tipton: “Well, there’s statue of a confederate general at the old courthouse in Lexington and a statue of Jefferson Davis at the capital in Frankfort.”

Calipari: “Wow. [pause] Since I’m not running for public office, I’ll let the powers that be decide those matters. I was thinking about running for President and I was discouraged from that.”

Tipton: “Thank you.”

No, thank you, Jerry Tipton.

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