NBA coach Steve Kerr gives tearful pre-game speech condemning Congress over Texas shooting

Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors and one of the most prominent figures in the NBA, used his pre-game press conference on Tuesday to give a powerful message impelling US congress to end gun violence after a school shooting in Texas which saw 21 people killed including 19 children.

The Warriors were playing the Dallas Mavericks in a crucial playoff game, but Kerr, a long-time advocate for gun control whose father died in a 1984 terrorist attack in Beirut, said it was time do more than simply getting on with basketball and to take action.

“I’m not going to talk about basketball,” an emotional Kerr began, before slamming his hands on the table and shouting: “When are we gonna do something?!”

He added: “I’m tired. I am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I’m so tired of the ‘excuse me, I’m sorry’, I am tired of the moments of silence. Enough.”

Kerr made a direct plea to senators and members of Congress to push through a gun control bill which failed to pass into legislation last year, directing his ire at Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

“I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings. I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week.”

The video was posted on social media by the Warriors, where it quickly racked up more than half a million likes and more than 14 million views.