Basketball Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Carmelo Anthony weighed in on the New York Knicks’ historic championship win, the unifying power of sports and Timothée Chalamet‘s fervent fandom during a high-spirited conversation with Variety’s co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh at Cannes Lions.
The former Knicks player, who was speaking as part of Variety and Google TV’s Industry Innovators Cocktail Hour event on the rooftop of the Five Seas Hotel, reminisced about interviewing Chalamet on his “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast in December.
“I actually gave him an award — my ‘Favorite White Boy’ award,” Anthony joked. “He was happy about that. He appreciated because I shined some light on what he really wanted in that moment.”
Asked by fellow New Yorker Setoodeh to give his pick for the best celebrity fan, Anthony said: “We have the OGs — the Spike Lees, the Ben Stillers of the world. Then we have this new generation, like Timothée Chalamet — he’s running around representing the Knicks to the fullest. And then you have the Fat Joes, who’ve been supporting the Knicks for a long, long time.”
Anthony said the Knicks finally winning the championship has “reignited the city of New York, from sports to businesses to kids. All industries feel like they have a newfound energy.”
“To be honest, New York has been struggling, trying to get over the hump and figure out what’s next as a whole,” Anthony added. “What the Knicks were able to do is prove that sports unifies a lot of things and people. It brings everything together, and it may be one of the only things out there that unifies everybody like that.”
The athlete-turned-businessman also discussed his transition to podcast host, which he sees as an opportunity to be a “builder.” “I get a chance to build something — to build a community and add to the culture, to be an authentic voice in our culture. I have that access, and I get to hold the door open and give people access to come in and be part of what’s actually going on,” he said.
Anthony said his experience joining the NBA as a rookie at 19 years old, and then playing for 19 years, has given him the tools to become a businessman. “I learned how to deal with organizations, organizational structure, understanding what the front office and execs need to do for us as players to be successful,” he said. “I was the face of a lot of brands. I was the subject of a lot of narratives. So now I get to step outside, shut that door, come over to this side and build something with that perspective and experience.”
The podcasting space is just one of the many areas Anthony has explored in recent years with the goal of creating an “ecosystem where everything flows together — from wine to cigars to production.”
He joked that the motivation behind his wine company, The Seventh Estate, came down to the fact that he “just got tired of spending money on wine.” But really, it’s a “passion project” for the athlete. “I’m traveling, drinking wine with people, learning, and I thought, ‘What if I could do this, build experiences and community out of grapes?’”
Anthony recently attended the Tribeca Film Festival alongside his 19-year-old son Kiyan to present “Born Melo,” a documentary biopic directed by Jake Rogal which he produced through his banner Creative 7 Productions. The doc sees Anthony reflect on his life and legacy as he is inducted into the Hall of Fame, as well as his relationship with Kiyan, who is playing basketball for the Syracuse Orange.
“I couldn’t tell my story while I was still going through my journey. I had to wait until I was done, then go back and put it all together with some perspective,” he said, adding that the doc also gave him and his partners the impulse to rebrand their media company to start doing production.
“My story’s been written about me for the past 20 years, and now I have the opportunity to take control of that narrative — to show people behind the scenes of what it’s like for me to be a man, a businessman, a father, a friend, a son,” he said. “In the midst of my 19 years, I can’t tell the story without talking about my son’s journey, because he was part of it. I shut one door by going to the Hall of Fame, but he’s opening another by following those same footsteps — going to Syracuse, playing basketball there, carving out his own path.”
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