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Melo appears on 'The Daily Show,' explains impetus for social justice stance

YouTube/The Daily Show

Carmelo Anthony has emerged over the last two years as perhaps the most socially-conscious star athlete of his time. In addition to speaking out with close friends LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Paul on racism and violence in America, Anthony also visited a crime- and poverty-ridden favela in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics.

The New York Knicks forward appeared on "The Daily Show" on Thursday night, and was asked by host Trevor Noah about taking sensitive public stands amid the possibility he could lose business or endorsement opportunities because of it.

"You gotta really put it into perspective. There's so many things, tragedies that have happened throughout our country over the past couple of years," Anthony said. "And I can't speak on everything, I can't stand up for everything that's going on. But it's not until something really happens to you in your backyard. In this case it was the Freddie Gray situation back in Baltimore, where I was like, 'OK, enough is enough' ... this really affected me because it was in my backyard."

Gray, a 25-year-old black male, died in April 2015 - seven days after suffering a traumatic spinal cord injury while in Baltimore Police custody. The ensuing outrage led to rioting in the city, something Anthony tried to help quell by visiting in the midst of the unrest. It was a situation that he said struck him deeply.

"I wanted to get back there as soon as possible, and really feel like what the pressure was like after the riots, and feel that tension that was going on back there.

"And I tell you what, I would never ever wish that on anybody."

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