Utah Jazz team bans fan for racist taunts against Russell Westbrook
The Utah Jazz fan Shane Keisel, who caused Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook to get out of character and threaten to throw blows, got hit with a lifetime ban from Vivint Smart Arena.
Westbrook got into a heated verbal altercation with Keisel on Monday, resulting in Westbrook using profanity, saying, “I swear I’ll f— you up. You and your wife! I’ll f— you up!” But the 6’3″ point guard says the fan is the one who started it by using a racial taunt.
But Westbrook didn’t get off without consequence, the NBA star was fined $25,000 for using profanity and threatening a fan, according to The Athletic.
During postgame interviews, Westbrook spoke to reporters, and gave his side of the story. “How it started was, a young man and his wife in the stands told me to ‘Get down on my knees like I used to.’ And for me, that’s just completely disrespectful to me. I think it’s racial, I think it’s inappropriate in the sense that there is no protection for the players,’ Westbook said.
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Russell Westbrook says the comment from the Jazz fan that set him off was: “Get down on your knees like you’re used to.”
The 2016 NBA All Star then went on to clear his name, citing that during his decade-plus run in the league, he has never once “been in any trouble.”
“There are a lot of great fans around the world that like to come to the game to enjoy the game. Then there are people that to come to the game to say mean and disrespectful things about me and my family,” he said. “For many years I’ve done all the right things, I’ve never done anything to hurt or harm anybody. I never been in any trouble. Never fought a fan. Been in the league 11 years, clean slate. Humble. I take whatever, all the criticism from everybody [and] I been doing the same thing for years,” the player and father of three stated.
The fan denied making racist comments to Westbrook, claiming instead that he yelled, “iced those knees up,” according to KSL5-TV.
“I mean, it’s all fine, we’re having fun and games with the guy and we’re talking, but at the end of the day, no man should threaten a woman, period,” the fan said, later adding, “I’m not afraid of the guy. Come on up. But when you threaten a woman that’s five feet tall and 110 pounds, you’re a big man. So this guy needs to be exposed.”
In his post-game interview, Westbrook addressed the comments directed at Keisel’s spouse. “As for beating up his wife, I have never put my hand on a woman; I never will. Never been in any domestic violence before. Never have before, but once he said the comment, his wife repeated the same thing to me as well. So that’s kind of how that started,” Westbrook explained.
Despite Keisel denying that he and his hurled racially charged insults at Westbrook, the MVP sticks by his story, and his message.
“If had to do it again, I would say the same exact thing, because I truly will stand up for myself, for my family, for my kids, for my wife, for my mom, for my dad every single time.”
