Manute Bol: I'm Tall and Black

Manute Bol, former professional basketball player and noted celebrity boxer, reveals that he is tall and black, in an exclusive interview with PopChronic.

"I knew I was on this mediocre team and I had four other guy's mediocre careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever let on (that I was tall and black), it would overpower everything," says Bol, referring to former Washington Bullets starters Moses and Jeff Malone, Michael Adams, and Mugsey Bogues.

"I didn't know: could that be the end of the Bullets? So I had that weight on me. And I just kept it hidden from everyone," says the 7'7" Sudanese two-time NBA blocks leader.

Now, after years of keeping his height and ethnicity private, Bol, 45, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then shocked his family.

"I back him up 100%," says longtime friend Mike Piazza. "And this finally explains why he always drives convertibles."

Bol, who retired several years ago from professional basketball, has since been dividing his time between charitable efforts benefiting Sudanese refugees and being a freakishly proportioned minor league hockey player. He is also developing a Perfect Strangers-inspired sitcom with Piazza in which his character will be tall and black.

"The thing is, I'm not ashamed," he explains of his decision to come out. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it. If there's anything that can be gained from this, it's that other tall black people can feel at ease in their own skin. So to speak."

As for why he's talking about it now, Bol said, "I've got a roller derby gig this weekend; I'm playing one game as a jammer for the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers. I couldn't feel right about yet another publicity stunt based on my freakish proportions without feeling right about myself."