As we all know, there is a massive issue with racist fans all throughout professional sports. Sadly, Black players experience this brunt of this hatred and there is rarely any punishment. Finally, someone has been punished but it’s a slap on the wrist and the racist is anonymous.
SEE ALSO: Does The NBA Have A Racist Fan Problem?
Last week, Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins told Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes that he was called the N-word by a fan but didn’t name the city. Now, Haynes is reporting that incident happened on Jan. 26 in Boston.
“I was told by league sources that the incident occurred while the Warriors were in Boston,” Haynes revealed. “During that game, there was a fan that muttered the n-word at DeMarcus Cousins. And I was told DeMarcus informed one of the team security guys, and they got a hold of the security team at TD Garden, they took care of the fan. And I was told, ultimately, that that fan was banned for the rest of this season and next year. So, he received a two-year ban.”
A ban that isn’t permanent obvious indicates that the fan will ultimately be welcome back to watch the Celtics play in Boston, which already has a horrific history when it comes to race and sports.
The Boston Red Sox was the last baseball team to integrate and desegregation was passionately fought against. Just last year, Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones had the N-word screamed at him from the Fenway Park stands and someone threw a bag of peanuts at him. The Red Sox had to issue an apology, but hate crimes have been on the rise in Massachusetts.
In addition, the city also a huge racial wealth gap. “A 2015 report found that household median net worth was $247,500 for whites — and just $8 for Blacks,” the Boston Globe reported.
Even outside of Boston, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma Cty Thunder had a heated verbal confrontation at an NBA game in Utah earlier this month. A MAGA crazy named Shane Keisel yelled, “Get on [your] knees like you used to.”
Westbrook shouted back, “I will f– you up!”
https://twitter.com/mymixtapez/status/1105475094267215872
After the game was over, Westbrook told reporters he thought the fan’s comments were “completely disrespectful“ and “racial.” In the interview, he went on to say that the NBA lacks protections for players in these situations as he has experienced similar hostility in Utah.
It was later revealed that Keisel was a member of the MAGA movement after a series of his now-deleted tweets that said in part, “Russell Westbrook needs to go back where he came from #MAGA.” Of course, Keisel wiped his Twitter feed clean, but not before people took screenshots.
https://twitter.com/Crumbzler/status/1105422065203580932
On March 12, the Utah Jazz franchise banned Keisel for life from ever returning to watch a game, which is the punishment the baseball fan in Boston should have received.
History likely explains why the Boston fan didn’t receive the same sort of punishment for an offense that was similar to Keisel’s in Utah.
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